A FREE week-long sustainable design festival with more than 180 contributors celebrating local and international talent will welcome visitors this week.
V&A Dundee will host the upcoming Dundee Design Festival which will open its doors on Monday, September 23, as they welcome hundreds of designers from all over Scotland.
Held in an old factory at the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc the event, which is Scotland’s largest design festival, will celebrate 10 years of Dundee’s status as the UK’s only Unesco City of Design.
It will be the fifth year of the event, and it will offer a week of free exhibitions, activities and installations and display work by more than 180 designers from the city and the rest of the world.
Visitors to the festival will be treated to a showcase of new and existing designs in furniture, interiors, jewellery, homewares, craft, graphic design and fashion in a series of exhibitions.
Dundee Design Festival creative director Dr Stacey Hunter said she cannot wait to see visitors discover all what the festival has to offer.
She said: “DDF24 is the place to explore an expanded view of design from the most exciting designers, makers and dreamers.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a snapshot of the ingenuity, talent and creative expression that underpins Scotland’s design community. It has been a privilege to work on a national festival of contemporary design.
“Hosting the entire festival under one roof allows us to create a series of immersive experiences of design. Whether visitors want to get hands-on with design activities and workshops or be inspired by design talks and exhibitions, I can’t wait to see festival goers discover the multiplicity of ways design impacts our lives.”
Festival goers will also be able to unlock their inner designer with a series of hands-on activities for all ages.
Those who wish to explore the “knitted forest” can learn how to make Beasties with the team from Donna Wilson’s Dundee based Knit Shop while visitors can also try their hand with screen printing their own bags and clothing at the Timorous Beasties installation.
Sustainability expert and designer Alicia Storie of ADesignStorie will lead interior design workshops at her Tiny Home installation the House of Wellbeing and drop-in visitors can see and hold pioneering sustainable materials.
Dundee Design Festival executive director Annie Marrs hailed the immense Scottish talent which will be showcased at the event.
She said: “Hosting Scotland’s biggest design event is a fitting way to celebrate Dundee’s 10th anniversary as the UK’s only UNESCO City of Design.
“The scale and ambition has built on the work of previous festivals and I’m excited to see Dundee’s design talent showcased alongside international design and work from across Scotland.
“Working with funders and partners across the city, in particular the team at Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc has allowed Stacey and the Festival team to be generous and ambitious in programming this year’s festival.
“We’re delighted to be able to showcase so much of what makes Dundee a design destination.”
Determined to become one of the world’s most sustainable design festivals, organisers of the event have committed to using no more than 30% of new materials and have reused materials from V&A Dundee’s 2023 Tartan exhibition.
The festival aims to showcase the diversity of design and will recognise the many ways that designers and makers contribute to the world.
Dundee Design Festival will run from September 23 to 29 and you can find out more about it here.
