ARCHITECTURE
Architect Paul Stallan of the Glasgow practice Stallan-Brand, shares his thoughts on six buildings in Scotland that inspire, delight, perplex or intrigue him. And he offers insights into Stallan-Brand’s recent project, Broomlands primary school (pictured) in the Border’s town of Kelso.
DESIGN CLASSIC
Archie Brennan was arguably the most inventive tapestry weaver of the 20th century. Here designer Beca Lipscombe celebrates his work & heralds the exhibition of Brennan’s work which was recently on at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Sheelagh Boyce & Annabelle Harty have known each for decades yet it was only recently that they began their collective practice of quilting. Here they talk ideas, inspiration. They are currently exhibiting their work at Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute.
NEW WRITING
Artist, writer, designer, Kate Morgan explores & exposes the fascinating intricacies of knitting proper socks from the mighty MUJI to a modest Czech grandmother.
‘Spatial practitioners’, Daniel Fernández Pascual & Alon Schwabe founded Cooking Sections in 2013. Here they discuss Climavore, their recent project on the Isle of Skye & why what we eat should focus our minds on food supply chains & ecosystems.
MATERIAL INNOVATION
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 sustainable building block, now in production in East Lothian. Spring 2021
GRADUATE DESIGN
Times are challenging for everyone right now but for last year’s design & applied arts graduates, the ‘real world’ has been particularly tough. Helen Voce catches up with three of the graduates she profiled last summer in DES, to see how their worlds are shaping up.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
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.
Leonie Bell is V&A Dundee’s new director. Here she discusses her role, the vital importance of design in the age of a pandemic & her delight in the clothes of Mary Quant & Jean Muir. Winter 2020
Christina Gaiger was recently appointed the youngest president, to date of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. Here she talks to fellow architect Andy Summers about her career path, cycling routes & activism in architecture. Winter 2020
DESIGN INNOVATION
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
Jack Brindley opened Pavilion Pavilion last year in Glasgow. Both a studio for his own practice & a gallery, where the territory between contemporary art & objects of use is explored. Summer 2020
NEW WRITING
‘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
The author of Design in Postnormal Times & recent speaker in DES’s Design for our Times, Alice Twemlow confronts trash, future fossils, digital detritus. Here she explores both deep time & the deep future & celebrates the work of the Scottish Enlightenment geologist, James Hutton. Spring 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
NEW WRITING
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
Designers Formafantasma explore materials, their origins, use and impact. In their 2020 exhibition Cambio at the Serpentine Galleries in London, they examined the life and after-life of trees. Here they discuss design & ecology. Summer 2020
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
Thanks to support from Outset Contemporary Art Fund through their Outset Transformative Grant, Inverleith House, which sits at the heart of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, is to be transformed in to Climate House. Here Emma Nicolson, head of Creative Programmes at RBGE tells us more. Autumn 2020
Episode One – The life & times of the Sanquhar Glove. Helen Voce’s first dispatch in a series that explores place and making from around Scotland.
Architect Jude Barber discusses thinking afresh & motivation, recalling a 2014 project with author Louise Welsh entitled Empire Cafe. A founding member of Collective Architecture, Jude recently ran as a candidate to become president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Summer 2020