‘A great wee place’: the small Scottish factory crafting Olympic curling stones

All stones in Cortina are made from granite found on tiny island in Firth of Clyde and crafted in East Ayrshire

“It takes 60m years and about six hours to make a curling stone,” shouts Ricky English above the whine of the lathes. The operations manager at Kays Scotland is surrounded by wheels of ancient granite in varying states of refinement.

It is a small business with a big responsibility: the only factory in the world to supply the Winter Olympics with curling stones. Competitors don’t travel with their own stones, which weigh about 18kg each, and with 16 required for a game. Instead, this year, 132 stones were crafted in the East Ayrshire town of Mauchline and shipped to northern Italy.

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Why This Matters

All stones in Cortina are made from granite found on tiny island in Firth of Clyde and crafted in East Ayrshire

“It takes 60m years and about six hours to make a curling stone,” shouts Ricky English above the whine of the lathes. The operations manager at Kays Scotland is surrounded by wheels of ancient granite in varying states of refinement.

It is a small business with a big responsibility: the only... The story is categorized under UK Politics with a neutral tone (score -0.01).

Key Insights

Primary keywords: stones, curling, small, factory, great.
Topic focus: UK Politics coverage with neutral sentiment.
Source context: reported by Guardian Business.
Published: 2026-02-13.

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The article tone is classified as neutral, driven by the language and emphasis in the summary. The sentiment score of -0.01 indicates the strength of that tone.

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This piece fits within the broader UK Politics narrative, connecting current events to ongoing developments. Readers tracking UK Politics trends can use this article as a concise signal of what is shaping coverage right now.

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Guardian Business ‘A great wee place’: the small Scottish factory crafting Olympic curling stones