The Wild Woolly Beastie of The Law installation by Donna Wilson at Dundee Design Festival 2024 – All photos are by Grant Anderson, unless stated otherwise.
Design. Dundee Design Festival 2024 celebrates the Scottish city’s 10th anniversary as a UNESCO City of Design—the only one in the UK—with an inspiring programme of exhibitions, events, and workshops. From today until September 29, over 180 designers showcase their work within a 10,000 sqm former factory at the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc on the outskirts of Dundee.
- RELATED STORIES: Discover more architecture and design from Scotland on Archipanic.
House of Wellbeing Installation by ADesignStorie.
Discover a world of Scottish contemporary design ranging from furniture to interiors, jewellery, homeware, craft, graphic design and fashion, all tuning with this year’s theme, Multiplicity. “Get hands-on with design activities and workshops or be inspired by design talks and exhibitions.” Says the festival’s Creative Director, Stacey Hunter. “I can’t wait to see festival goers discover the multiplicity of ways design impacts our lives.”
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Hunter invited twenty Scotland-based designers to create adventurous bookends, taking inspiration from Dundee’s pioneering journalists Marie Imandt and Bessie Maxwell, believed to be the world’s first female foreign correspondents, who explored the world 130 years ago. Read more.
Designer bookend by Granite + Smoke – Photo by Reuben Paris.
Four of Scotland’s leading design studios created large-scale installations that invite festival visitors to see Scottish design up close. Each showcase welcomes visitors to join creative workshops. Wolly creatures thrive in an enchanted forest crafted by Dundee-based Donna Wilson. Upcycle waste wool to make your own beast with the guidance of the designer’s Knit Shop team.
The Wild Woolly Beastie of The Law installation by Donna Wilson.
Alicia Storie of ADesignStorie presents The House of Wellbeing, a climate-conscious installation featuring some of the latest sustainable materials available to designers and makers. A programme of workshops on sustainable interior design encourages the exploration of healthy materials.
Provocative design studio Timorous Beasties brought to life an intriguing maze framed by their iconic wallpaper. Join the screen-printing sessions to craft bags, fabrics or clothes.
Fabric Maze by Timorous Beasties.
“Uniforms become canvases for creativity!” Promises Gabriella Marcella of Risotto Studio. Her Challenging Uniformity exhibition merges play and performance with a colourful exhibition of workers’ outfit designs. With input from festival visitors, the installation boosts creative expression, improvisation, activism, and customisation.
Challenging Uniformity exhibition by Gabriella Marcella – Photo via IG, follow @risottostudio.
Capture a snapshot of today’s Scottish contemporary design at the Framework group exhibition, featuring the work of seventy designers from Fair Isle to Dumfries and Galloway. Jamie O’Donnell presents an innovative aircraft seating designed with neurodivergent adults in mind; Clare Morris created a sandwich-inspired table, while Juli Bolaños-Durman gives a second chance to scientific vessels, reinterpreted with a joyful and sassy attitude. Studio Sam Buckley unveils a noodles-inspired stool and bench. Robert Hall of Studio Vans joins the festival with their circular campervan, which is designed, developed, and built for adventures of all kinds.
Second Lives, Still Life by Juli Bolaños-Durman.
Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) Graphic Design graduates will also see their work featured in the Emerging Design x Real World Projects graphic design exhibition. Alumni and established designer Dean Brown presents his Lost & Found Project. The HYPER-LOCAL section is dedicated to creatives from some of the other 48 UNESCO Design Cities across the globe.
Dean Brown at Dundee Design Festival 2024.
Festival organisers reiterate their commitment to creating one of the world’s most sustainable design festivals powered by clean energy and using less than 30% virgin materials in staging the festival.
Studio Vans at DDF 2024.
All photos are by Grant Anderson unless stated otherwise. Courtesy of Dundee Design Festival 2024.
Noodle stool and bench by Studio Sam Buckley – Photo by the designer, courtesy of DDF.
