Author: Susanna Beaumont

Inspired by Scandinavian and Japanese design and craft, Daniel Brophy emulates a design approach that is pared down and lean. He always considers the rhythm of a piece: the space between each leg, the differing distances between each wooden spoke in his Side Chair. In doing this Brophy emphasises negative space, subtle angles and tapering lines.   Brophy specialises in ebonising, a process of darkening wood. He applies a homemade solution […]

Lynne MacLachlan’s practice takes an experimental approach to digital design and fabrication tools, pushing their capabilities to produce intriguing jewellery and interior objects. State of the art 3D printing technologies are combined with meticulous hand-finishing techniques, such as dyeing, metalwork and construction, to explore optical illusions, geometry and colour effects. This hybridisation harnesses the precision and complexity of digital tools with craftsmanship […]

The DES 2019 Handout is designed by Lucy Grainge and forms part of an ongoing body of work informed by swimming pools and the woggle, a lozenge-shaped float that acts as a swimming aid. As a part-time swimming teacher, Grainge frequently uses woggles to provide support and safety for novice swimmers.   Long fascinated by water, the human body in water and how the flexibility of the woggle allows it to echo and support the human form, Grainge’s pattern-based design […]

On moving to Dundee from France in 2013, Aymeric Renoud became fascinated by Scotland’s brewing and distilling industry and in particular, draff, the so-called unwanted leftover ‘wet grains’. Often used to supplement animal feed, Renoud began to explore the possibilities of using draff as material in furniture design. He embarked on a four-year programme of research and development before launching draff studio in Dundee in 2017.  At DES 2018, Renoud debuted his first piece of furniture, a draff stool.   Renoud has now further refined the process of turning the spent […]

Steff Norwood works between the disciplines of design and sculpture. His work is hybrid by nature. He imposes a singular aesthetical approach through his choice of materials, form and colour. This process is applied to both conceptual and commercial projects.   Paint and the painted surface is omnipresent in Norwood’s work. Norwood draws inspiration from diverse sources such as folk […]

Pewter, once known as ‘poor man’s silver’, is thought to have first been made in the Near East during the Bronze Age around 3000BC. A malleable alloy principally consisting of tin and a small amount of copper, metallurgists have speculated that pewter could have been discovered by chance. Looking back to a time when drinking cups were frequently made of pewter and were treasured personal items, Morgan’s Ode to Pewter presents a collection of functional vessels both cast in pewter and bronze. Simply cast using a camping stove and a frying […]

Bernie Reid sources discarded pieces of linoleum and vinyl to make ‘rugs’. Referencing  Persian and Caucasian carpet designs and early 20th century decorative schemes, Reid reinvents and repurposes traditional patterns and forms to paint in trompe l’oeil (a French term translating as to ‘deceive the eye’) directly onto lino remnants. Reid is also part-inspired by the long-standing Eastern European tradition of painting ‘rugs’ directly on to stone floors or floorboards by using hand-cut stencils.   Bernie Reid lives and works in Edinburgh. He studied painting at Edinburgh […]