Dundee Design Festival is currently on till 29th September, Dundee Design Festival is a UNESCO City of Design Dundee project, curated by Stacey Hunter held at Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc, open 10am – 6pm daily. More info on it here

2024 Highlights for me

A flavour of things I spotted on my first visit to this years festival…. plenty more to see.

Design is everywhere, it covers so many aspects of our lives that we don’t think about.   I look fondly back at each of the festivals, each different in many ways!

2016 Highlights for me

Display by Old School Fabricators and Branding by Lyall Bruce, Kerrie Aldo patchwork coat, colourful film on the windows, getting some Tekels bank notes out of the machine by Martin Baillie, hands on workshops and the industrial building. The theme of the festival was ‘Place. Work. Folk. Design.’ through which the festival explored the potential of design to connect communities and improve everyday
lives. You can read the report here.

I was commissioned to create a series of surface patterns that piece together the stories of contemporary Dundee design.  I wanted to capture a breadth of design that included healthcare, security, safety, fashion, entertainment and education, jewellery everything we use and experience. One of the pieces I created was called Building Support chosen not only as it represents a building designed by world renowned architect Frank Gehry but because I believe it evidences how good design changes peoples’ lives providing a place of calm, support, nurture and tranquility created within a purposeful space. Externally, I enjoy the shape and movement of the roof which I feel echoes the local landscape. 

Within the image the patterns are more than decoration, for instance the colourful pattern is cancer cells, the teacups and books to show support and lavender to give a sense of calm, the sky is a positive sunny yellow patten to show the positivity of space and support.

Hands of X Different materials used on the hands of X project, that investigates prosthetic hands, identity, fashion, and ownership.  Hands of X was led by Professor Graham Pullin and Andrew Cook of Dundee University.

Building Safety, Warp and Weft, Showing woven, printed and technical textiles with link to the bullet proof vest on display by Jack Ellis body armour showing how technical textiles can protect and Cally Bookers hand woven textile inspired by the river Tay linking to data in the cities population. Fashion Textiles, Showing some of the tools of fashion textiles including pattern cutting, tailors chalk and fabric.

Tools of the Trade Range of tools used by designers from the Wacom pad, ruler, scissors, tailors chalk. Precious Tools of jewellers and sample rings with a bio-morph from Islay Spalding. Stomach Showing the advances in healthcare with the sonic pill (sonopill). Creating Worlds eeGeo 3d mapping, showing how design is used to help us around with also road signs and imaginary worlds of Glitchspace. 

Building New Worlds A combination of the future of V&A Dundee coming to the waterfront with imaginary worlds from Glitchspace through gaming. (at this time the V&A dundee wasn’t open yet). I love the texture and stripes of the architecture of V&A Dundee, designed by Kengo Kuma and the inspiration of the cliffs along the coast. Under one roof West Ward Works, Dundee Design Festival, showcasing the range of things on display through the use of pattern. This was one of my favourite pieces now with UNESCO City of Design Dundee.

Loved West Ward Works and brining the building alive and linking to the print history using CMYK palette. 

I remember this commission well, the momentum and excitement to be part of it and I had one month to do all the research, samples, to produce the final hand screen printed pieces for install.

2017 Highlights from this year included

Sion Parkinson curator the 2017 Dundee Design Festival. The festival’s theme was “Factory Floor”, which was inspired by the festival’s location in a former print factory. I loved the playful feel of this exhibition from the branding to Print City, featuring oversized screen printed assembled cardboard shapes. I enjoyed taking part in a Make / Share to talk about my work process. You can read more about the festival here.

2019 Highlight from this year included

Curated by Agency of None transforming the Keiller Centre into exhibition spaces. A nice bit of nostalgia using the Keiller Centre with fun activities and good graphics to play with. More about this festival here.

2021 Highlights from this year included

Curated by Agency of None, the festival’s theme was Every Where Design, which explored the unusual and hidden design that can be found all around us. Loved the fun characterful repurposed materials and seeing the pigeon palace transformed into a bright space and engaging with the local community to accessories their clothes. More about this festival here.

Looking forward to seeing what happens in the years to come. Dundee is the only UNESCO City of Design here in the UK.

THANK YOU for reading my blog. If you’re interested in my mission to transform spaces and support positive wellbeing by playfully applying colour and pattern to help connect people to place and the work I do on a range of public art commissions for hospitals, cultural venues and public spaces.  You can see more about some of my projects here.