Public

The Public Programme sought to engage the general public with the idea that Scotland has both designs and designers to be proud of and that far from being a superficial veneer design is an intrinsic ingredient of everyday life.

Across the six cities we successfully realised a wealth of diverse events, the high point of which was the national exhibition, The Scottish Show 07 that brought together a group of Scotland’s most exciting designers in an exhibition, which attracted over 57,000 visitors.  The show celebrated the vibrancy and vitality of Scotland’s design industry, spanning six floors of The Lighthouse. 

National events were organised centrally in partnership with host venues in each of the cities, including international design and architecture exhibitions, such as Peacocks Among the Ruins co-curated by DCA and Timorous Beasties, a series of Designer Double Bills - keynote talks featuring internationally renowned designers alongside prominent Scottish designers - and Claystation, Remodelling Scotland, a hands-on event enabling participants to redesign each city.

These were complemented by hundreds of high-quality, locally developed activities, which were representative of all the design disciplines. The programme included: Design Park – that saw Dundee’s City Square turfed over and lined with deckchairs; Monkey Puzzle Pavilion, a temporary architecture pavilion in the heart of Aberdeen; Designer Marketplace – bringing local design direct to the Stirling public via a street market; Design Fairground – a light-hearted family friendly event in the centre of Edinburgh; Greenhouse/Blackhouse, an exhibition showing the entries to the Highland Housing Fair competition and Glasgow is made by us – a transformational public space project supported by The Evening Times newspaper.