Category: DES

Eduardo Paolozzi, the Leith-born artist is celebrated widely for his sculptures & collages but his work in design & collaborations with industry are arguably lesser known. Here curator Sarah Rothwell applauds his brilliance in design.

DES cuts through the thicket of catch up, things to read & must dos & signposts the interesting stuff.

Ica Headlam makes things happen. A social worker living in Aberdeen, he champions creativity. The man behind Creative-Me-Podcasts, last autumn Ica launched We Are Here Scotland, to raise funds to support BIPOC creatives.

Accolades have been showered on the K-Briq. A building brick made of over 90% construction waste, it was invented by Prof Gabriela Medero of Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University. Susanna Beaumont finds out more about a more sustainable building block, now in production in East Lothian.

DES is developing eye-catchingly good looking fountains for the contemporary age. So here’s Dixon, a minty-fresh fountain designed & built by Simon Harlow & Lewis Harley, founders of Mirrl of Glasgow, & keen fountaineers. Winter 2020

DES brings news of exceptional objects to buy . . tables & stools from Flux, flamboyant coasters from Mirrl & Adam Nathaniel Furman & Urpflanza, a new series of lights by Rachel Adams, inspired by the brilliance that is brassicas!

Recent graduate, Catriona Brown had long thought the ubiquitous plastic tree protector was a blot on the landscape, so she set out to design an alternative. Here Catriona tells the story of Shroom, her newly designed tree protector made of mycelium. Winter 2020

DES presents three talks bringing together designers, architects & academics to debate fresh ideas, explore new materials & imagine a brighter future. All three conversations, Design in Postnormal Times, Material World & Circular Thinking in Design are now available to listen / watch again online.

Contemporary horology is flourishing . . Scotland’s watchmakers Paulin, Instrmnt & anOrdain are making sure that time still moves, beautifully. Watch enthusiast James Hall celebrates the tick & the tock. Winter 2020

Archie Brennan was arguably the most inventive tapestry weaver of the 20th century. Here designer, Beca Lipscombe celebrates his work & spearheads a fundraising campaign led by Edinburgh’s Dovecot Studios and the Art Fund, to present a show of Brennan’s work. Summer 2020

‘Our fingertips contain a density of nerve endings and their differentiation is almost comparable to our eyes . . ’
educator & artist Stuart Bennett explores touch in our new touch-adverse era. Summer 2020

Episode Four – Bute Fabrics, its history and very contemporary collaborations with artists & designers including most recently, Ilana Halperin. Helen Voce reports from the island set in the Firth of Clyde

Kate Morgan writes about the process and practice of chair caning, and how this newly-learnt skill is offering sound, rhythm and vision within a quiet, lockdown Glasgow interior. Spring 2020