Miss Kate Cranston opened four Glasgow Tearooms at the end of the 19th century/beginning of the 20th, including the famous Willow Tea Rooms. With her entrepreneurial shrewdness, self-confidence, capacity for hardwork, commitment to quality and good design, and adventurous interest in the new, the Tearooms became thriving centres of Glasgow society. Ahead of her time, Miss Cranston ensured that her Tearooms were designed and furnished by talented young artists like Charles Rennie Mackintosh.