Former tyre factory transformed for Scotland's biggest design festival
The festival is the biggest event of its type in Scotland
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Work by more than 180 designers has turned a vast former tyre factory into Scotland's newest festival venue.
The former Michelin plant in Dundee, which closed down four years ago after almost half a century of production, will be playing host to “Scotland’s national celebration of design” over the next week.
Fashion, furniture, jewellery, graphic design, crafts, digital technology, homewares, textiles and jewellery are all being showcased within a 100,000 sq ft building transformed for the return of the Dundee Design Festival.
The festival, which is the biggest event of its type in Scotland, includes large-scale exhibitions, workshops and "hands-on activities, and talks from many of the featured designers.
Organisers have pledged that the event, which is free to visit, will be one of the world's most sustainable design festivals, thanks to the use of clean energy and efforts to use less than 20 per cent of new materials in its creation.
The festival, which will run from 10am-6pm from 23-29 September, takes place under the one roof in a former factory building at the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc, the project founded to breathe new life into the former Michelin plant, which is also involved in plans to create a new Eden Project" attraction in Dundee.
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The fifth edition of the 2024 festival, which has previously been staged in a former printworks and a shopping complex in the city centre, will coincide with the 10th anniversary of Dundee being designated an official UNESCO City of Design, the only city in the UK to get such an honour to date.
Highlights include an immersive "fabric maze" by Glasgow design studio Timorous Beasties, Aberdeenshire textile designer Donna Wilson's "knitted forest" and "woolly wonderland" creatures, Glasgow artist and designer Gabriella Marcella's colourful remaignined boilersuits, tiny houses by Edinburgh-based "eco-conscious" interior designer Alicia Storie.
Reusable camper van interiors created on Benbecula, in the Outer Hebrides, by Robert Hall and Martin Campbell, and Glasgow designer Clare Bridget Morris’s BLT inspired coffee will be on display.
Dundee designers showcased include Jamie O’Donnell, who has created seating covers for aircraft with neurodivergent passengers in mind, Caitlin Dolan, whose jewellery is inspired by insects, Hannah Sabapath's patterned furniture, and Gary Kennedy's new paving design for the city.
The festival has brought together work from seven other UNESCO Cities of Design, including fashion from Nagoya in Japan, furniture and lighting from Kortrijk in Belgium,traditional masks from Wuhan in China, crafts from Queretaro in Mexico, and lighting from Bilbao in Spain.
Dr Stacey Hunter, creative director of the festival, said: “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.”
Annie Marrs, executive director of the festival, 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.
“I’m excited to see Dundee’s design talent showcased alongside international design and work from across Scotland."
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