Creative Chit Chat - Dundee

This week I'm joined by Tom Metcalfe — interdisciplinary designer, researcher and educator. Tom's journey into design wasn't linear — from rally driving to getting into product design at DJCAD through clearing at 21. Since then he's had a yo-yo relationship with Dundee. From Dundee to London (via New Designers and Random International), then Bristol for 10 years and now back. Along the way, he's developed a design practice rooted in place, interaction and thoughtful design. We get into what it means to be a designer, the split between ways of seeing and ways of making and how design education really needs a shake up.

Jolene Guthrie, founder of the knitwear fashion brand Jo-AMI (pronounced Jo Amy) joins me this week, talking about how you make knitwear cool, comfy and considered. From internships and positions with the likes of Hayley Scanlan and Tom Pigeon to working with major fashion houses in London, Jolene has built a career rooted in hands-on experience and a deep love for knitwear. Why knitwear? She's drawn to its magic—how and you can create a 3D piece from nothing but yarn. It also runs in the family with her great Aunt and Uncle owning Donbros Knitwear in Alloa in the 1960's. Jo-AMI began in the spare room of her mum and dad's house in Dundee, using a 1960s Dubied knitting machine. That ‘studio' has since grown, moving from WASPs to a shopfront in Douglas Court, and evolving into a brand that's known for its considered, colourful, and unisex designs. Alongside running Jo-AMI, Jolene also works part-time at The Knit Shop, a micro-manufacturing factory in Dundee. In this episode, we talk about the realities of building a creative business slowly and sustainably, how outsourcing her content to Greene Creatives has boosted sales and freed her up to focus on the making, and what it takes to scale without losing your core values. https://jo-ami.com/

In this episode, I chat with graphic designer Alastair Walker. After spending 13 years building his career in Manchester, rising through the ranks to creative director, Alastair took a step back to reassess. A four-month break in Vienna gave him the space to reflect and a desire for change eventually led him north to Dundee. We explore the relationship between software skills and creative thinking, the importance of building long-term trust with clients and whether designers should be managing projects or focusing on the work itself. Alastair shares how joining Creative Dundee's Amps programme helped him build early connections and why he believes Dundee has the potential to nurture and celebrate small-scale creativity. We also get into the shifts between freelancing and full-time roles, and the bigger picture of what design means in and for Dundee. It's a thoughtful and honest look at a creative career that's evolved through curiosity, intention, and a desire to make meaningful work. https://www.alastairwalker.me/ https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/series/the_follow_up

TLDR - I'm starting a newsletter to reach more listeners and avoid the social algorithms. https://substack.com/@cccdundee A quick update on where things are at with the podcast and what's coming next. This season's felt a little out of rhythm — not because of the guests (they've been brilliant) — but more because of what's been going on behind the scenes. In this episode, I chat about why things have felt a bit off, how changes in social media have made it harder to share episodes, and why I've decided to start a newsletter on Substack. It's a way to cut through the noise and make sure you don't miss new episodes — plus I'll be sharing a bit more insight and digging into some of the back catalogue too. SIgn up now: https://substack.com/@cccdundee

As Eilish grew up, creativity was part of everyday life — and she's carried that spirit into everything she does. In this episode, we dig into her journey from studying Interior and Environmental Design to shaping creative communities and spaces across Dundee. She shares what it was like balancing a job in a sports shop while trying to break into a design world that felt miles apart and how she found her path by staying grounded, curious and always asking the big questions. Eilish isn't one for small talk. She's rather find out your dreams and when you last cried rather than talking about the weather. Her design approach is hands-on, people-focused and rooted in empowering everyday people to shape the spaces around them. We talk about the Dandelion Project, her first big turning point and how that led to her role as Creative Spaces Producer at Creative Dundee. From there, we dive into Hapworks, a prototype co-working space that's sparking a conversation about the future of creative spaces in the city. It's a brilliant insight into how design can support community, how local action can ripple out to wider change and why now is an exciting time to be involved in shaping your neighbourhood. Eilish's instagram - https://www.instagram.com/eilish_victoria/?hl=en-gb Creative Dundee - https://creativedundee.com/ Hapworks - https://hapworks.co

Part 2 of my conversation with Fraser Smith founder of EH9 Espresso and designer and Maker Camillo Feuchter goes much deeper into the construction of the Annfield Road cafe and the considerations of how the space functions. We then move on to some classic podcast questions around success and failure. Then the bigger picture of Dundee as a whole and how it is becoming known for it's speciality coffee culture. EH9 - https://www.eh9espresso.com/ Camillo Atlas - https://www.camillo-atlas.co.uk

This is part one of a beautifully flowing conversation between two friends—both with an incredible eye for detail. Fraser Smith, the founder of EH9 Espresso, and Camillo Feuchter, a designer and maker, first crossed paths through the EH9's Perth Road cafe. Over time their relationship flourished into a collaborative partnership in the design and creation of EH9's second home on Annfield Road. Fraser's journey started young—buying and reselling cans of juice on the school bus. That entrepreneurial spark never faded, and during lockdown, he turned it into something bigger: his own coffee brand. For Camillo, growing up in Germany and studying Interior and Environmental Design in Dundee shaped his approach to making. His skills in craft and material experimentation—like transforming discarded bottle tops into beautifully designed stools—brought a fresh perspective to EH9's new space. In this episode, we dive into their backstories, their growing friendship, and the vision behind the new cafe. Plus, we explore the power of authenticity, the magic of word-of-mouth marketing (involving a lot of flat whites), and what it takes to build a community around a business. Part two continues the journey and dives more deeply into the process of transforming the space and is out on Friday 4th of April. EH9 - https://www.eh9espresso.com/ Camillo Atlas - https://www.camillo-atlas.co.uk

I'm excited to reveal that there will be 6 brand new episodes of Creative Chat coming out from next week with Fraser Smith creator of EH9 and multi-disciplinary designer and maker Camillo Feuchter taking me through their creative process of bringing the Anfield Road EH9 to reality. Then I'm chatting to Eilish Victoria, Creative Spaces Producer at Creative Dundee, Graphic Designer Al Walker, Knitwear Designer Joleen Guthrie founder of Jo-AMI and designer of objects and connected artefacts Tom Metcalfe. Lots of wonderful conversations around the ups and downs of creative careers. It's a pleasure to be back and sharing so many wonderful chats.

Ruby is the creative director behind Dreamland: happy, nostalgic fun clothing. Known for big bold prints inspired by TV shows and popular culture, in particular her upside down collection inspired by Stranger Things. Ruby takes me through how she started out the label and why travel and people watching are central to her creative process. There's definitely a thread of nostalgia that quite clearly runs through her work but it's also routed in her experiences and collaborations. The episode ebbs and flows from the positive to the realities of running a small creative business. It's been a tough time recently for so many businesses and Ruby sums it up beautifully when she says "I'm very much trying to keep this small boat afloat in a very choppy ocean" We also go on to talk about the importance of saying ‘no'. It's really difficult when you start out but it can lead to burn out. Picking and choosing the right opportunities that are healthy for you and your business is difficult but can make an enormous difference to your creative career. We also touch on the issue of space in Dundee and how it has affected Ruby directly. If you're experiencing something similar or are just curious then please check out the Hapworks project (hapworks.co) If you haven't done already go and check out Dreamland's latest collections: https://www.dreamlandclothing.co.uk/ https://www.instagram.com/dreamlandclothing/

Cat and Andy repurpose old skateboards into beautiful new products. They take me through their labour intensive process from old broken board to shiny new product. The episode is a fascinating insight into how they've learned and developed their woodworking skills from scratch and built the business up at the same time diversifying the product range. I would recommend heading over to their instagram to see it for yourself as they capture it really well visually on there, far better than I would describe in a podcast description. https://www.instagram.com/nocomply.design/ https://www.nocomplydesign.com/

Graphic designer, Duncan Barton takes me through his design process, position on current trends and how he's developed a career around the things he loves. "At university they taught you to be 'the best designer in the world' not a jobbing designer" Probably my favourite quote from the episode. You're just not taught all the day to day nitty gritty of being a designer working with real clients, dealing with feedback and churning out more of the functional aspects of what design really is. Duncan also uses a lovely analogy in the 'gradient of design' from the boring and mundane repetitive tasks to highly concept driven design. I'd never considered it as such an apt metaphor before. Duncan mentions David Carson's TED talk from 2013 Design and Discovery https://www.ted.com/talks/david_carson_design_and_discovery He talks about how we shouldn't confuse legibility with communication. Something we explore in the episode along with readability and tying that to some of the latest trends. We round off by talking about Dundee and Duncan has a hugely positive view on the city and his time here. There seems to be some sort of weird synergy where things centred around his interests like music, design skating and plants all seem to be popping up around the city. https://twitter.com/witha4

With over 20 years experience in the fashion textiles industry Chris has a really varied and interesting career path. His journey starts from a really dark and troublesome place: at school during Section 28. Chris hasn't done many interviews and I feel privileged he was trusting enough to come on the podcast and share his journey. When I set up the podcast I wanted to share as many amazing creative stories as possible. The good times and the bad. Although it's definitely more difficult to talk about those dark and difficult times it can be so valuable to others so realise they are not alone and they can learn from the experiences of others. Chris' creative journey was sparked by an art teacher allowing him to write an essay on punk culture. This was the catalyst to exploring and understanding a whole new world. From his first drink in a gay bar to interning at Vogue, working in PR for multinational brands and then setting out as a freelancer. Chris has this amazing energy where he wants to make things happen and bring people with him along the way.

A lead consultant at the Service Design Academy, Katie says that she fell into Service Design after doing a masters in leadership and innovation. We have a really interesting discussion around whether Katie sees herself as a designer and the complexity around design terminology. This also leads onto a topic I'd like to explore further run the future of how we make design skills a core competency in the same way maths or English is. By giving people these fundamental building blocks to change their perception of the world and the ability to influence it could be transformational. Katie also said: "If we can start to be more human, step back and ask more questions, rather than making assumptions, in any walk of life then it's going to be a better place (the world) going forward." Empathy is so important and it's often difficult to comprehend what others are experiencing day to day, it's so important as a human being let alone a designer to be able to take that step back and consider more deeply the circumstances and actions of others. If we all had a little more empathy the world would be a much better place. https://www.sda.ac.uk/

After a successful kickstarter campaign Alastair decided to start Lowtek Games a studio focused on creating games and tools to help dyslexic players enjoy video games more. It was at primary school that Alastair got an early diagnosis of dyslexia creating real difficulty with reading. As text to speech technology became more readily available and with the rise of online video tutorials it allowed him to take a more hands on practical approach to creativity. Advances in game technology led to more complex graphics and often more complex storylines and on-screen text. This led Alastair to stay in the realm of retro games. It ended up having a real impact on his creative process and career becoming an advocate for dyslexia friendly games. After going to Abertay University Alastair got his first industry job at Ninja Kiwi and quickly became 'the optimisation guy' specialising in low poly 3D models. After running a successful Kickstarter campaign he decided to start up Lowtek Games and build out his game Flea. Which was made for the NES running on physical cartridges on original consoles without any modification. He has become a bit of an internet sensation especially within the highly supportive retro games and NES developer communities. His latest project, the pop up book is simply magical. Interactive projection overlaid on a pop up book where you can colour in, play a traditional platform or some mini golf among other applications. He's currently in talks to turn it into a projection mapping console which sounds like a super exciting opportunity. We end by discussing the small scale and how great ideas should be the measure of success not turnover or profits. We need to champion the great small scale creative studios we have in the city and create more brilliant ideas. Twitter - https://twitter.com/Wallmasterr?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Design researcher Stephanie Crowe and Design Generalist Kevin Sinclair met and decided their love in discussing the failings of design in the world around them was enough to start Muckle Studios. They take me through a journey of how they built a partnership based upon the crossovers in their skillsets and also what they could learn from each other. They are a balance of optimist vs realist and detail vs big picture. This episode is a lovely snapshot of how they've grown as a studio through frustrating times as well as successes. There's lots to be taken from this episode if you're thinking about going freelance or starting out on your own. It's not easy to find someone you work will with and their process of working together is one to be admired. If you did enjoy this then you can always listen back to Kevin's own episode from 5 years ago. https://www.mucklestudios.com/ https://www.twitter.com/mucklestudios https://www.linkedin.com/company/muckle-studios-ltd/

Hear how a trip to Vienna where all the museums were unexpected closed due to the pandemic led to Elizabeth Ann Day and Luke Cassidy Greer creating an art dispensing vending machine in the Keiller Centre in Dundee. It's been a long time since I've had two guests on the podcast and this week it's a real deep dive into the Volk Gallery project. One year on from installing and launching their art vending machine Elizabeth and Luke talk me through the fascinating origin story of the project and the progress they've made in a year. It's a great project that really makes art more accessible through an experience that has lovely level of nostalgia and mystique. Future plans include looking towards further funding to commission more artists and create more sites around Scotland. https://volkgallery.com/ https://www.instagram.com/galleryvolk/

This week we start back in the 80s where Rick takes me through his own creative career as well as the history of the skate scene in Dundee. He went from college to a full time job as a graphic designer and then on to study Time Based Art at DJCAD. After staying around as a research assistant Rick taught himself how to cope websites and the rest is history really. He started up his own business and after several years running a company with a business partner it became time to go it alone as a freelancer once again. Skating is such a prominent part of Rick's life that it's only just that we dedicate half the episode to it. He takes me through the early days of building ramps in disused warehouses and the misconceptions that come with skate culture. Through the 90s and some terrible pre-fabbed metal skateparks to the early 2000s where we see the rise of concrete skateparks and in Dundee the creation of Dudhope skatepark. It's a lovely meandering journey through two prominent elements of Rick's life. https://linktr.ee/rickcurran https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boarders-Sam-Beckett/dp/B099YSFX4P

Stephanie Graham founder of Natla Jewellery and Dundee Community Craft joins me this week. Her goal is to make Dundee the recovery capital of Europe supporting recovery through teaching design skills. She takes her mobile jewellery workshops out into the community to deliver them. The workshops take people through a design process over several weeks but they also create a safe space where people can feel peaceful, feel good about themselves and have a positive experience that helps influence a positive future. The workshops Stephanie is delivering with Dundee Community Craft have been influenced by her own experiences of trauma, healing and recovery and is already seeing positive outcomes and results despite only being one year into running the business. The time she spent at the Circle Academy has clearly had a big impact and has helped Stephanie shape the business side of things splitting her own jewellery practice Natla Jewellery Studio and Dundee Community Crafts. Long term Stephanie is aiming to train more people to support her and deliver workshops as well as have a fleet of vans fitted with mobile jewellery studios to allow her to work with people anywhere. https://www.instagram.com/natlajewellerystudio/ https://www.instagram.com/dundeecommunitycraft/ https://www.thecirclecic.org.uk/the-circle-academy/

Hippies communes to funeral directors to Jennifer Lopez and Dior, Jennie grew up in Dundee, was drawn to Glasgow and inevitably London building her eclectic PR career before returning to Dundee. Starting out in Pitkerro House, a sort of hippie commune on the outskirts of Dundee, this instilled the values of community and people working together on common goals from the very outset of her life. This has clearly had a big impact in the way that Jennie has progressed her career seeking a sense of belonging and community around her. She then moved down to Glasgow to work at Pied de Terre and enjoyed being part of the scene and then moved into a PR role but eventually the allure of London was just too great. Jennie's first job in the big smoke was literally dragging sacks of mail outs to the post office. It did become a little more exciting like saying no to all requests for Jennifer Lopez but talking about her time down in London Jennie said "I never felt like the glamorous one. I felt like Alan Partridge's assistant, Lynne." After 13 years Jennie felt the time was right to leave London and head home as excitement was starting to build with the beginnings of the V&A Dundee. She uses a really lovely analogy of not feeling creative herself but being the glue that helps hold things together. There are loads of these people in Dundee's creative community and they play a vital role of holding us all together and making things happen. https://twitter.com/jennie_patt https://www.instagram.com/jenniepatter/

We take a deep dive into some of the nuances of graphic design with Badbish Design this week, featuring how to vent your creative frustrations, the need for building relationships when giving and receiving feedback and why she would happily draw a hippo for £5,000. Badbish's career started out with a frustrating time at art school but after picking up some graphics work for the bars she was working in, things started to change. A graphic design position within a university lead to learning how to deal with people and a masters course in communication sparked inspiration and conflict. It was from here that Badbish as a persona (and an instagram account) was born, taking the name from a furry friend and creating a really valuable creative outlet. The social media posts led to real reassurance and a sense of community through people's responses. After time the venting of her frustrations transitioned into income generation by selling totes, t-shirts and prints with her most popular piece 'Fuck the Tories'. Badbish's latest career move to Design Lead at Upfront is somewhere that she feels she can be herself. After a significant time in the industry this is a huge step and a brilliant company to work. To find out more you can listen to Upfront's founder Lauren Currie in her own episode of Creative Chit Chat: https://soundcloud.com/cccdundee/33-lauren-currie https://www.instagram.com/badbishdesign/ https://weareupfront.com/ Support the podcast - https://ko-fi.com/cccdundee

I'm joined by Jillian Elizabeth owner of the Little Green Larder a zero waste, plastic free shop aiming to make shopping for sustainable products easy and convenient. The Little Green Larder offers a wide variety of foods and products with their best seller being their vegan pick n mix. Jillian saw zero waste shops opening up across the world and sick of waiting on someone setting one up in Dundee, she decided to do it herself. So she found a location and built a community around the Little Green Larder. During lockdown the shop was inundated with customers and orders but as the world opened back up business saw a decline. Leading to Jillian creating a post to say 'Come and say hello to us so we don't have to say goodbye to you'. An extremely difficult post to share but a necessary dose of honesty to save the store. Things since the post have taken a much more positive turn with lots of customers returning but this highlights the difficult time small businesses are currently going through. I ask Jillian to talk me through some of the buzz words that are thrown around all too often in marketing campaigns and discuss what these terms really mean. In a little twist from my regular recommendation question I ask Jillian to round off the episode by highlighting some of the brilliant independents in Dundee. If you can, go visit the Little Green Larder and try to support your local independents as everyone is finding it tough right now. https://thelittlegreenlarder.com/ https://www.instagram.com/thelittlegreenlarder/

Jeweller and owner of Double Door Studios joins me for a wonderful meandering chat through her journey. There's a little sidetrack into busking and then onto building a jewellery practice in kilt pins, wedding rings and collections. A quick jaunt around making brooches more accessible through skirting boards and broken musical instruments. Before focusing on finding a space, setting up the finances and taking ownership of her very own space Double Door Studios. Islay has a wonderful positive and driven attitude that comes through in the episode even when making huge decisions and taking risks. In sharing staff, going down the space ownership route and building a team of likeminded jewellers she has created a long term sustainable space for design. Something that we desperately need more of in Dundee. https://www.islayspalding.co.uk/ https://doubledoorstudios.co.uk/

Fashion designer Kerrie Aldo joins me this week. Probably best known for her signature wax cotton jackets created using material from local manufacturer Halley Stevenson. We talk about slow vs fast fashion and how you get across the value of small scale sustainable production. Kerrie talks me through her journey starting out by being influenced by the indie music scene to finding her own style and how her audience has grown over time. A real pivotal point in her career came when she made a bit of an unexpected move down to Leeds but the business continued to grow and she worked on the Dundee Raincoat project with V&A Dundee during lockdown. As I hope will happen with lots more creatives in the coming years, Kerrie decided it was time for a move back to Dundee. Not the easiest of transitions and almost like starting all over again. But she now has a thriving brand, so much so she experienced a total burn out after a busy Christmas period. So is now look at how to scale and expand things while maintaining integrity and working with other suppliers. Kerrie's Website https://www.kerriealdo.com/ Kerrie's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kerriealdo/?hl=en Dundee Sole https://dundeesole.com/

This week it's all about street art with C.Gul. Inspired by Dundee's ballsy bird community he has been creating seagull inspired street art for 9 years now. Clearly he doesn't take himself too seriously and his work is about putting smiles on people's faces. We touch on the differences between street art and graffiti and go into the rules and politics that surround the two closely linked but distinct discipline. C.Gul has definitely learned the hard way a few times but seems to have now found a place where he's happy with his work. We also touch on one of my favourite subjects: mini golf. C.Gul created his own course during lockdown. Created in his allotment from materials saved from landfill and purchased from charity shops. It is also closely linked to the work he does with Scrapantics selling all sorts in their scrap store to lighting up kids imaginations with loose parts play. https://www.instagram.com/c.gull/?hl=en www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CGullShop https://scrapantics.co.uk/

It's textile designer Kate Harvey's turn to be the guest on this week's podcast. We go from corner shops to Australia and eventually back to Dundee where she started her own clothing brand. Kate produces hand made one-off appliqué garments in a style that I would describe as beautifully organised chaos. We discuss how she has developed her style and process over time as well as building her audience and brand. One of the key motivators and drivers of her career has been the big projects she's been involved with. Kate produced a towel in collaboration with Local Heroes for their Daytrippers project with V&A Dundee. We also talk about her involvement in this year's Dundee Design Festival and how a collaboration with @badbish created the most successful space in the whole festival. instagram.com/katescarletdesigner/ vam.ac.uk/dundee/event/313/daytrippers katescarletharvey.com/

This week I'm joined by Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee. She has had a fascinating career working in many high profile roles across Scotland's creative and cultural sector. We talk through her career, why she deliberately seeks out positions of responsibility, that she may not quite be equipped to deal with and why this is a real positive. From an upbringing in Newport and becoming immersed in pop culture, then a move to study in Glasgow: a city of possibilities with anarchy, artist run spaces and self-organised clubbing. We discuss the role creativity has in her career "Quite often my creative outlets have come with the people I've associated myself with. If I've got any creative skills it's that I can gather and synthesise different bits around me." Collaboration is a real constant in Leonie's career when developing teams, working with communities and delivering projects. From being Programme Director at the Lighthouse at a young age to working on cultural elements of the Olympics and Commonwealth Games then moving to Creative Scotland and later Scottish Government, Leonie talks about gaining huge experience in a short space of time and hitting each challenge head on as it comes. With such a quick rise to positions of massive responsibility we discuss how confidence and over-confidence can be toxic and dangerous. Leonie introduces me to the idea of identifying those who have 'energy'. Those are the ones you want to surround yourself with. As we meandered through Leonie's journey it became clear to me that the V&A Dundee role was a natural fit. Even if she didn't recognise it at that time in her life. It's funny how we can go on our own journeys with our head down and a little bit of perspective by stepping back can make all the difference. She describes feeling tiny the first time she sat in the 'big chair' at V&A Dundee but immediately set about the challenge at hand in the same way she approached every other role. I would have loved to have had another hour with Leonie and delved a lot deeper into some of the topics. We did manage to cover a lot of ground and reveal some insight into what has driven Leonie's life personally and professionally. We have already seen real change at V&A Dundee since Leonie's appointment and I look forward to seeing more in the coming years. It's an exciting time for Dundee and its creative sector I just hope we can harness the full potential.

I had a very open and honest conversation with David about his career so far as an artist, photographer, videographer and educator. We go into a particularly dark time after he took on a corporate banking job due to 'expectations' which lead so severe anxiety and depression. As David says in the episode it nearly killed him but "When your back's against a sheer drop, where else do you go? You grab the only thing that's there and freelancing was there. So I went for it." He made a hugely positive step by going freelance but the anxiety and depression is still an ongoing issue that David has learned to deal with over time. We talk about his transition for living and working in Edinburgh and moving up to Dundee. He has a great analogy of how in a big city you can be much more specialised but in smaller cities like Dundee you're far better off being more of a generalist and expanding your skillset. We also touch on David's approach to his work, how that affects his overall style and his relationship with the kit he uses. He did highlight that one tiny positive to come out of the past few years is the acceptance of grainy zoom footage. This is a really open and honest episode fitting that it's the first one back after almost 18months. https://davidpscott.com/ https://www.instagram.com/davidpeterscott/

A celebration of the past 98 episodes with so many wonderful guests. I talk about some of the things I’ve learned and answer the questions of past guests and listeners. This episode is a big thank you to everyone who has made the first 98 episodes of the podcast possible. I’ve had so many brilliant guests openly and honestly sharing their stories. One the four years I have been running the podcast all those stories have become an amazing bank of content that celebrates creativity in Dundee. In this episode I answer questions from past guests and listeners. It goes from the weird to the wonderful. From my favourite pokemon to feminism and the fickle nature of confidence.

This week I’m joined by the Head of Cinema at the DCA, Alice Black. She gives us a behind the scenes peek of how an independent cinema operates and the difficulties of catering to such a wide and varied audience. Cinema has always been the biggest focus and passion in Alice’s life. From an early age the cinema was an adventure, being a 2hour drive each way. After a bit of a mix up with the tickets Alice’s Mum ended up taking her to see Roman Polanski’s Tess, which had a profound impact on her life even if she might’ve been a little young at the time. Alice is a firm believer that “Film is a great leveller”. MA Glasgow After a degree in Canada an MA in Glasgow and an MA in New York Alice Worked for the MoMA and the French embassy in NY before moving to Dublin. Having such a range of roles servicing different needs and audiences put her in a great position to curate her own screening schedule for a venue, something she’d not done before the DCA. We chat about the difficulties involved in programming a cultural venue for a wide and varied audience. With only 2 screens with roughly 4 showings per day it’s a big ask and often ends up like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Alice also gives us an insight into the decision making process of how decide on what makes the cut. There are a lot of restrictions and restraints that come with showing blockbusters that I had no idea of and I suppose not many people do as we just expect that what we want will be on when we want it. “I want the films to have the best possible chance to find their audience and I want the audience to have the best possible experience.” Alice watches 95% percent of the films that go on at the cinema and she says herself that her expertise is having a sort of encyclopaedic knowledge of films, even if it does make her a harsh critic. Cannes, Berlin and Toronto are the big film festivals she visits every year watching a colossal 5 or 6 films a day! Obviously now, that isn’t going to be possible and the future of cinema is somewhat uncertain. I feel that we will always crave the experience of cinema and maybe with our time away from it, we’ll want it more than ever. (Cover photo by Erika Stevenson - http://www.erikascamera.co.uk/) DCA - https://www.dca.org.uk/

Darryl comes from a background in social care and community engagement through many different jobs and projects that we chat about on the project but he’s currently working on researching and developing a local currency for Dundee. ‘I would never call myself a creative’ Pretty much the first thing Darryl says. Not the best start, given the name of the podcast but ‘creative’ and 'design' have never been in the vocabulary in the work that he has done. Although we talk about how many of the roles he’s been in have utilised design principles, methodologies and approaches. Darryl talks about his introduction to Service Design and how something really clicked and made him realise that those things he was doing all along were part of a bigger picture. Similarly, co-design has had a big impact on the work that he does. From our chat, it’s clear that Darryl likes to throw himself into challenges and bring people together to create change. In 2017 he 2017 stood in the local elections as an independent candidate. His campaign was based on the basis that ‘local people should be more involved in local decision making’. In the episode, he talks about shaping his doorstep manner and trying to make genuine connections with people. He clearly did something right as he finished ahead of the Lib Dems and several other candidates for Dundee East. With his current work on a local currency Darryl has started to make more connections with the Dundee creative community and from his previous jobs and projects finds himself in an interesting position. He can see the crossover of the needs of both groups but there is a distinct lack of connections. He wants to act as a bridge to that gap to help make a difference. He’s also just launched a new podcast looking at events of the past in Dundee and seeing how they’re relevant now and what that means for the future. You should definitely give the first episode a listen and find out more about how Winston Churchill lost his seat in Dundee. Emerging Dundee Podcast - https://soundcloud.com/emerging-dundee-102375827 Darryl’s twitter - https://twitter.com/DDuplooy

Kirsty runs a Passivhaus Architecture practice from Wasps studios in Dundee but we don’t really talk about any of that. Instead, she takes me through her epic journey to the ends of the earth that she was able to make when lots of factors aligned to create the perfect opportunity. Something of a different episode this week for the first remote recording of Creative Chit Chat ever. Please bear with me on the sound quality. I will be trying to improve it as I go working with some new software. In a lot of ways, I feel that this is the perfect episode for what’s happening right now. A way to escape and let Kirsty take you on an adventure over land, mountains and sea. Going beyond the North to just short of the North Pole in a sailing boat, to skiing past hundreds of thousands of penguins in South Georgia and experiencing the wildlife of Antarctica. I don’t really want to say much more than that. Just listen and enjoy. Kirsty’s website: https://kirstymaguire.com/ Kirsty’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/PassivhausArch

Programme director of Digital Interaction Design at DJCAD, Paul has gone full circle from being a student on the course to now leading it. We cover that whole journey including some brilliant music based side projects along the way. “mostly I’ve just pursued what I’ve been interested in rather than what’s been a good career move” We begin by talking about Pauls relationship with technology and how he created a website for his village when people were getting really excited about the internet. I think there are a few threads running through his career and technology is one of them along with community and developing the careers and aspirations of younger generations. After a PhD and some time working open the dot rural project in Aberdeen, Paul spent several years at Young Scot in Edinburgh. His work involved giving young people a voice in a room of people with influence, to make them heard and to make a difference. During his time studying in Dundee Paul started a music event in a pub basement on the Perth Road called Nilk. Which then grew into a ‘micro festival’ in Dundee’s botanic gardens. The connection and development all came from a graphic design placement and some collaboration. Another musical collaboration project we chat about is Resono. A project that came out of it looking at travelling around different weird and wonderful acoustics spaces and places in Scotland. Utilising a technique called impulse response they put on performances and created recordings in some breathtaking spaces. IKEA x Teenage Engineering Collaborative 3D printing project - https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/news/frekvens-limited-collection-pubcd6f39e0 Resono project - http://resono.co.uk Twitter - https://twitter.com/peg

Kirsty is the founder and CEO of the Circle, a “More Than Profit” organisation focused on working with social entrepreneurs, community activists, charity leaders, commercial business leaders, trustees and non-executive directors. Kirsty starts her journey on her return to Dundee after being in academia for many years she found herself unemployed. After signing on, a careers advisor asked if she had considered starting her own business. From there she started ACK (Along Came Kirsty) a business offering consultancy services and ended up working primarily with organisations and charities in the third sector. After some ups and downs Kirsty identified the need to set up a space that would allow the types of businesses she was working with to grow. Taking away a lot of the hassles and worries around the basics of keeping a roof over their heads and the lights on. It took 2 years of negotiation with a commercial landlord to convince them it was a viable use for their building. 3 years later and the building is full of a diverse range of charities, social enterprises, community groups and socially aware businesses in Dundee. It’s not just about creating a space but about creating a community that grows and thrives together. They also offer a 12 week Circle Academy to help create businesses that are ‘more than profit’. The Academy helps develop business ideas into viable opportunities and teach step skills necessary to take them forward through a series of challenges. A core theme that of the episode is the value of creative skills. “The minute you start to value your own time and expertise, then other people start to value that as well.” I think this is exceptionally poignant right now given the situation. We need creative skills to be valued and to get rid of the imbalance that creatives often experience when trying to earn money for their skills. Kirsty released this statement outlining the current situation and The Circle’s future: https://thecircledundee.org.uk/2020/03/23/a-statement-about-covid-19 Website - thecircledundee.org.uk Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thecircledundee/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/thecircledundee Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thecircledundee/

Ica hosts and runs the Creative Me Podcast in Aberdeen and I invited him down to Dundee to do a podcast exchange. Turns out we have very similar stories and approaches when it comes to podcasting. Originally from South East London, Ica moved up to Aberdeen with his girlfriend about 15 years ago to study social work. He’s seen the creative scene change and grow while recording the stories of creatives in the city. We both started our podcasts around the same time and have put out about the same number of episodes. When chatting it was funny how we have mirrored so many of the same patterns. We both burned ourselves out in the early stages and came to the realisation that there is no expectation to be putting out an episode every week. Granted, in the beginning it’s good practice to get things out there and develop the skills. But 1 episode every week is a massive amount of work to keep on top of and generally more content that listeners can keep up with. Especially if you’re trying to do it all year round. We end our chat by talking about the development of local talent. Aberdeen has had some amazing events over the past few years with things like Nuart but it is mainly about parachuting in that international talent. Ica feels that the focus needs to be on developing young talent in and around the city especially in more deprived areas. Creating a more inclusive atmosphere throughout the city. I could’ve happily chatted for hours with Ica but if you do enjoy this episode we also recorded 1 for the Creative Me Podcast which you can find here: https://soundcloud.com/user-933577069/episode-85-ryan-mcleod-creative-chit-chat-dundee All Creative Me Episodes: http://creativemepodcast.com/ Creative Me on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativemepodcast/ Creative Me on twitter: https://twitter.com/CreativeMePodc1

Jen is an Illustrator and ceramicist who has spent her time between Dundee, Glasgow and Toronto during her career so far. Her work often notes quiet moments, human connection and the natural world. Pencil and paper are generally the tools of choice, but she occasionally plays with clay, too. After graduating from DJCAD Jen started making products that she could sell online to build an audience and generate some income. She needed a part-time job at this point to support her creative practice and said that it was important to admit ’In my 1st tax return I had a big fat zero in there’. After changing her supporting job to working in marketing it led her down to Glasgow. It was there that she decided to go to some beginners ceramics classes. Out of a curiosity for the craft and that she had never really quite got away from the 2D nature of her illustration work. We chat about how these beginners classes are really enjoyable but also a great gateway into learning new skills and developing creative practice. There are some great things going on in this area already in Dundee but running those classes can be costly and time-consuming. Could we get together as a creative community to reduce the amount of work and increase the breadth and depth of the offering to make design skills more accessible? It was at this point in Glasgow Jen had built a good online following and purely through developing work and selling it online, she was starting to be commissioned for illustrations. It then time for a big change. Her and her boyfriend went off to Toronto for 2 years to work and live. It was here that Jen joined an open access ceramics space called ‘The Shop’ where she developed her ceramics work and started collaborating and selling through it. She had her own working space shared with others and managed to find a really good creative/commercial balance. We talk about it as the ‘holy grail’ being creatively fulfilled but not being skint! Eventually, the lure of Scotland led Jen back to Dundee to continue developing her career and now has a studio at Wasps. We talk about the difficulty with creative spaces in Dundee and trying to find some sort of answer to the empty shop fronts on the high street. We finish by discussing Dundee in this new ‘post spotlight era’, interesting to see what happens next. Jen’s website - https://www.jen-collins.com/ Jen’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jen.collins/ Jen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/hellojencollins?lang=en The illustrator - https://bentheillustrator.com/illustrators-survey

Do you like sneakers? Then this episode is for you. From importing random Japanese zines to working in Hanon in Aberdeen and having over 250 pairs sitting in his garage. Me and Neil chat a lot about trainers in this episode. Even though his journey isn’t really about footwear. He came to Dundee to set up Borders books store. Which he helped build into the most successful branch in the UK but despite this, the company went into administration. Neil had to go through that process and watch the community he had built disappear. He seems to have a knack of getting his foot in the door by offering to lend a hand. This saw him working on some of the early-stage public consultations for V&A Dundee, then on to several Business Improvement District projects. In the episode, he also reveals that Kengo Kuma’s design was not actually the public’s first choice! The Bluebell design was the preferred choice but it was deemed too similar to Belfast’s Titanic Museum. After his work with the V&A Dundee, the Archie foundation approached Neil to help create a fundraising trail. This became the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail that was so successful at getting people out and exploring as well as raising a lot of money for charity. Neil also went on to work on the Maggie’s Penguin Parade and bucket trail number 2. Working with Wild in Art he’s now working on trails projects worldwide. But how long can this model really last? We chat about the possibilities and certain restricting factors for the future. We finish by talking about a mutual love of trainers. It may be a little self-indulgent but you’ve got to take the chance when it’s there! Maggie’s Penguin Parade - https://www.maggies.org/about-us/news/maggies-penguin-parade-va-dundee-auction-raises-half-a-million/ Neil’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/clepington/ Wild in Art - https://www.wildinart.co.uk/ Our Wullie Bucket Trail - https://www.oorwullie.com/ Hanon - https://www.hanon-shop.com/ Dundee Sole - https://www.instagram.com/dundeesole/?hl=en

A graphic designer who runs Pixels Ink, helping brands find their identity and voice. He’s also built up a following through online design advice and tutorials on his youtube channel. Col started out doing an interior design course, then moved on to animation and ended up working in a series of smaller studios doing various different roles. He started to get itchy feet when the studio he was at began to grow and he lost the direct relationships with the clients. After finding himself in a pretty toxic environment he knew he had to get out and start his own business. Despite not having any real experience running a business and not having and clients! This was a massive leap and 1 thing that comes up time and again in the episode is confidence. It’s definitely something Col has struggled with and something I think we can all relate to. It was this statement that really stuck with me though: “I don’t think enough people invest in themselves… From my experience, when I’ve invested money in myself, it’s given me a boost of confidence… and it’s paid for itself every single time.” A real turning point in Col’s career was discovering Content Marketing. In simple terms, it’s being as helpful as you can, no sales pitch and essentially just giving away your knowledge. Which seems counter-intuitive at first but in actual fact it shows the design process and everything that is involved. So it actually unveils the complexities involved in graphic design and encourages people to actually commission work. Accountability groups are another amazing concept that came out in the podcast. Essentially a monthly meet up where you all hold each other accountable for progressing your own businesses. It’s a great support structure, especially if you are a freelancer or working on your own. Having people there to sense check with and bounce ideas off can be invaluable. “Have confidence in your imperfections” Col’s Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/pixelsink Col’s Website - https://pixelsink.com/ Col’s twitter - https://twitter.com/pixelsink

5 weeks into a year-long role as director of Creative Dundee I chat to Lori about her journey, what interested her in the role and what she wants to achieve. Starting out, Lori’s journey has a bit of uncertainty that then led to working in the financial sector. After rising through the company she ended up being made redundant along with the rest of her department. This lead her to take stock and make a complete career change with the Nation Lottery Heritage Fund. She spent 9 years there supporting and getting involved in many amazing projects and gaining what would prove to be invaluable experience for the future. Lori said people have described the transition in her career as “gamekeeper turned poacher” as she went to work for organisations for whom the securing of funding is vitally important. The biggest of these was ‘Collective’ a project regenerating the Old City Observatory and surrounding area at the top of Calton Hill in Edinburgh. It was a 9-month role that turned into a 5 year position as she saw the project through to completion. Only being 5 weeks into the post when I chatted with Lori it was maybe unfair to ask what her ambitions are for the next 12 months. Her position is massively important for the city of Dundee and the creative community. It's only fair that there's a good period of understanding the lay of the land and maintaining the current programme before creating any new challenges. I was really pleased to hear that she received a ‘warm and fuzzy’ welcoming by Dundee and I’m looking forward to seeing what the Creative Dundee team achieve over the next 12 months and beyond. Lori’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/LoriVAnderson Collective - https://www.collective-edinburgh.art/ Creative Dundee - https://creativedundee.com

An opportunity for a year-long graduate internship on the isle of Coll to write and create music was massively significant in Andy’s life. It kick-started a remote music creation process with his brother and initiated a love for field recordings. Now 2 albums down, Kinbrae are looking to release an LP and then a further album but Andy is looking to other avenues to make music a full-time pursuit. He talks about how he has worked in creating music for film and TV which seems to be a much more commercially viable option. Towards the end of our chat, I couldn’t resist chatting to him about classic football kits. It’s something we talked about one night over a beer and area where creativity is definitely lacking. Kinbrae Website: http://kinbrae.co.uk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kinbraemusic Chernobyl Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chernobyl-podcast/id1459712981 Classic Football Shirts Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/classicfootballshirts/

Katja has been working in the cultural sector producing events for many years. From music festivals in the Czech Republic to DJCAD degree show. Having only been in Dundee for a relatively short period of time she’s already worked with most of the cultural organisations in the city. As most of her work is event-based it leads to relatively short term contracts. We chat about jumping from contract to contract and having the confidence that something else will always come up. Her latest contract is with Creative Dundee as Programmes Producer. After just a few months in the role, I ask about her ambitions over the next 6-9 months, what she feels Creative Dundee’s role is in the city and where she fits within that. Katja says ‘Dundee is small in the best of ways’ many people have talked about the advantages of the scale of Dundee but no-one has summed it up quite as succinctly and beautifully as this. Creative Dundee - https://creativedundee.com/ Katja Twitter - https://twitter.com/katjakusakova Katja Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/katjasteel/ Ness’ twitter - https://www.instagram.com/_little_ness_monster/

Director of Leisure & Culture Dundee, Stewart has spent many years engaging communities, enabling others and really helping develop the cultural offer in Dundee. As he moves towards retirement we talk about what he has achieved in the role and what he feels is important for the city going forward.  After growing up in Fife, Stewart started in community education in Glasgow. He didn’t exactly when but mentioned it was before the M8 opened. In 1990 he moved to Tayside where he worked in several different roles engaging communities before eventually becoming head of the organisation that merged many bodies and became Leisure & Culture Dundee. From our chat, it’s clear that what really drives Stewart is facilitation. He loves helping others make things happen. In my opinion, this is the right attitude for someone in his role and indeed the role of any big cultural or creative organisation. Stewart talks about working with many people over the years and that he has been lucky to surround himself with those who have the passion and drive to make things happen. These are the 2 key factors in any thriving creative and cultural community. People who facilitate and assist with breaking down the barriers and those who deliver the events, activities and content. We also touch on the UK City of Culture and European Capital of Culture Bids. Ultimately, both were not winning bids but they were great catalysts for the city. The UNESCO City of Design designation came from it and a lot of momentum behind creativity in the city. Again it comes down to the concept of ‘success’ where I trip myself up a little! The work Stewart has done in the role has been phenomenal but retirement now looms and his position is now being advertised. The new director has an absolutely key role and responsibility to the creative and cultural sectors in Dundee. We need someone who carries forward the great work that Stewart has done and the values that he holds. We need someone who will continue to facilitate and help improve the lives of Dundee citizens. Director of Leisure and Culture Dundee Position - https://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/director-of-leisure-%26-culture-£98644-£104605 We Dundee - http://www.2013.wedundee.com/ Against Creativity - https://www.versobooks.com/books/2852-against-creativity Moneyland - shorturl.at/lKLR7

A freelance photographer who has worked across many areas but mainly with cultural and arts organisations like NEoN Digital Arts Festival, the Cooper Gallery and many fashion brands. The first big project I worked on with Kathryn was this year’s Dundee Design Festival. We brought her in as the official festival photographer and to run a space called the ‘Photoshop’. In the podcast she says she is ‘intrigued by humans and human nature’ and during DDF19 she really captured the essence of the visitors and residents in the spaces. We talk about her ever changing photography persona ‘flash’ that she uses to disarm people. I reckon we all have at least 1 work persona and one personal one. Just thinking about how you answer the phone or conduct yourself in meetings rather than the day to day can be completely different. Kathryn also mentions that she’s not really that into technology. She knows how to get the best out of the setup she has and isn’t about buying the fanciest camera or lenses. It’s about using the technology you have to develop your style and learning what works for you. A common issue in creative careers is balancing the paying client work and the self motivated projects that bring fulfilment or development. Kathryn is at a stage where she is trying to combine the two by getting paid to display her self motivated more artistic work. Recently being part of the Swissartexpo seems to have been a real breakthrough in this respect. Kathryn’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kathrynrattrayphotographer/ Flash’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/flash_kcd/ Impostor Syndrome Article by Sam Gonçalves- https://www.theskinny.co.uk/sexuality/deviance/impostor-syndrome

A graphic designer currently working for Avian in Dundee, Jamie shares his journey to where he is now with lots of ups, downs and educational institutions. Jamie first did undergrad degree in product design but felt it was too focused on the engineering and the prospects afterwards were limited. He realised from the design process he had developed that what he really enjoyed was putting together the presentation boards. From there it still took a while to full embrace graphic design. He had a bad experience in a toxic environment in an apparel company in Glasgow which led to a detrimental affect on his mental health. He reached a turning point and knew it was time to get out and focus on what he enjoyed by going to Glasgow Clyde College to do an HND. Then on to DJCAD where he graduated last year. His journey is varied and takes a lot of twists and turns but it shows the key is finding something you’re passionate about. Even if it takes several years to get there you need to have a vision of where you want to get too. Since graduating he took up a position with Avian in Broughty Ferry. We also dive into his design process and how it works for each project. We also touch on how to deal with client feedback and why it’s inherently a negative process. Jamie’s Website - http://jamiesteindesign.co.uk/ Jamie’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jamiesteindesign/

Kirsty Thomas runs creative studio Tom Pigeon from the East Neuk of Fife. We go through her journey from fashion design to teaching to the creation of Tom Pigeon and her latest project The Make Bank. After a bit of a false start with Sports Science Kirsty went on to a degree in Design Studies which didn’t exactly prepare her with the skills needed for industry but did give her broad scope which has lead to a really broad and varied career. After a stint with clothing company Joe Bloggs, she experienced what she describes as an ‘itch’. This becomes a theme throughout her career and has led to a sort of cyclical change every few years. I think it’s a really healthy part of human nature to stop ourselves from getting caught in a rut. The most dangerous thing you can do is not recognise the need for change. It is so important to take stock of everything once in a while and allow yourself some perspective on your situation and the direction you’re headed in. Since it’s creation in 2014 Tom Pigeon has become internationally known for colourful minimal geometric work across prints, stationery, jewellery and physical products. They have worked on many collaborations with museums, galleries and companies such as The Barbican, The Tate and made.com. We go into how that collaborative process, how it works and when it doesn’t, when it’s time to walk away. Walking away from projects isn’t something that has come up a lot in the podcast but it’s a difficult area especially when taking into consideration the financial implications. It comes down to your professional integrity and your vision for the future vs your financial situation and potential gain from a project. These really aren’t easy decisions to make. Kirsty’s most recent itch was one of social responsibility. She recognised that Tom Pigeon is in the privileged position of selling to an affluent audience and in general the creative industries are an area of white privilege. We have a massive issue of creative poverty in this country. Where school pupils and students are unable to gain access to basic materials in order to complete course work or create portfolios. This creates an imbalance where those who can afford the basics have fewer opportunities to access the creative industries than those who do. Regardless of talent or determination, it comes down to the ability to afford things like pencils and paper. The Make Bank has been created in order to help address this issue by creating packs that can be donated to those children who need it most. You simply head to the website themakebank.org.uk purchase a pack and they’ll distribute it for you. They also have an amazing range of prints for sale, donated by world-renowned creatives with all profits going towards addressing this UK wide issue. So if you are in a position to do so, I would urge you to please donate a pack or buy a print to help support this amazing cause. As well as providing the materials needed, The Make Bank is also trying to address the knowledge gap. To demystify how to create a career in the creative industries and to help parents and teachers understand that there are viable career options in these areas. Make Bank is doing this by capturing the stories, journeys and thoughts of creatives in the industry in the form of audio recordings, blog posts and video. This falls in line with what I am trying to achieve with this very podcast. Creative Chit Chat is very much Dundee focused and I hope that the podcast has managed to share insight and encourage people to get into the creative industries. It’s all down to how many people we can reach. If everyone was to share it with 1 person it would boost the audience massively so please do. The Make Bank - https://www.themakebank.org.uk/ Tom Pigeon - https://www.tompigeon.com/ How to Fail Podcast - https://howtofail.podbean.com/

21 – 28 May the Dundee Design Festival will be at the Keiller Centre in Dundee. In this bonus episode me and Lyall Bruce talk about the process behind producing the festival. The podcast has been on a bit of a hiatus and DDF19 is the reason why. So, I thought it only fair to do an episode on our process behind the scenes in structuring and creating the festival. For full festival details dundeedesignfestival.com We’ll also be releasing new content in the lead up to the festival, you can follow here https://twitter.com/designdundee/ https://www.instagram.com/designdundee/

Joanne runs Tea Green Events where she brings together some of the best makers from across Scotland in amazing spaces for people to buy their wares. Joanne’s journey took a few twists and turns along the way before building up Tea Green. Starting out with a ‘false start’ doing a business degree she realised that what she really wanted to do was go to art school. After getting a portfolio together and being accepted into 2nd year at DJCAD Joanne studied jewellery. In another unexpected turn she found herself doing a masters in fine art where she really started to explore how to create engaging and exciting experiences. It seems as though a lot of what she explored at this time eventually fed into what Tea Green has become, including several kilos of glitter. After being part of Vanilla Ink for over 2 years and developing as more of a commercial jeweller. It was Joanne’s fiancé that really influenced her next career change. He offered her £200 with the goal of creating a project where she would double the money. After a few discussions and ideas, Joanne decided to put on a market at GCA’s student union. A massive step out of her comfort zone but as we discuss, there were some successes and failures of that first event. Tea Green is coming up for it’s 5th birthday and Joanne has built a strong reputation, a network of makers and customer base. She’s built a brilliant platform to help makers sell their work and a well-curated offering for visitors. So, go and check out her up and coming events or if you’re a maker go and see how you can get involved. Tea Green Website - http://teagreen.co.uk Tea Green Facebook - https://en-gb.facebook.com/TeaGreenEvents/ Kibble Palace - http://www.glasgowbotanicgardens.com/the-gardens/history/kibble-palace/

Frances is the ex-director of the Queens Young Leaders programme and describes herself as a ‘positive troublemaker’ which I think is very much the case. We start on her journey where she sort of blagged her way through university, playing the system to get through. Her ability to do this did make her lose interest in art and I think ultimately university. Frances talks very openly about her own struggles with mental health and discovering that her depression manifests itself as not being able to read. This led to her not finishing her PhD but ultimately, a deeper understanding of herself. To be honest I’d not heard of Queens Young Leaders until I found out Frances got the position. It was a brilliant programme helping amazing people across the commonwealth who are running projects or business that are socially focused. Really interesting to hear how Frances will be building on this network of 500+ people across the world in her new role at the Queen’s Commonwealth trust. Asking guests where their expertise lies is always a tricky question but I eventually got Frances to answer it. She describes herself as a good communicator with a large shallow base and specialises in translating information to a specific audience. We also touch on her Mum’s battle with cancer and how the Grief Cast Podcast has really helped her through tough times. Death is often a subject that we shy away from and embracing it through discussion and comedy is always good in my opinion. Frances' Twitter - https://twitter.com/fbrownwork Katie Allan - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-45977823 Queen’s Young Leaders - https://www.queensyoungleaders.com/ Queen's Commonwealth Trust - https://www.queenscommonwealthtrust.org The Grief Cast - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/griefcast-with-cariad-lloyd/id1178572854?mt=2 Frances Website - http://www.fbrownwork.com

Gareth runs Flick For Kicks, making hand made Subbuteo tables and has been involved in playing and promoting the game for over 30 years. He takes us right back to when he first started in his mates’ living room to being Scottish Youth Champion then starting his own club and finally running his own business. It probably took me about 2 years to convince Gareth to come on the podcast. As he mentions himself in the episode, he is a bit of an over-thinker but he’s also been through a lot of ups and downs through his career. We navigate the highs and the lows and Gareth talks about how the community has been so important to him. Whether it was starting the Abernethy Table Football Club, playing for his own Subbuteo team or moving into co-working space Fleet Collective. To me, it seems clear that he thrives when surrounded by like-minded people in a creative environment. That’s why Fleet Collective worked so well, it acted as a support network for all of us. Gareth is a good friend and I’m really pleased that I managed to convince him to share his story at last. Gareth’s website - http://shop.flickforkicks.com/ Gareth’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/flickforkicks/ Gareth’s twitter - https://twitter.com/flickforkicks

Fun Makes Good is how you may also know Eleanor. She produces an amazing range of work from products to upholstery and textiles full interior designs. Strong geometric shape and bright colours feature heavily in Eleanors work and is a style she has become known for. This aesthetic seems to have always been in her work and has been refined over time. We discuss how “Being brazen” is a really important quality for a designer and maker to possess. Especially if you make product based work that you need to go out and sell. It’s really important that you make genuine connections with people and when they’re looking for something you’re capable of, then you’re top of their list. During the podcast we go into various different projects that Eleanor has worked on. It’s clear to see over time that there’s a confidence and ambition that has grown within her work. You only need to walk past Wahaca in Edinburgh to see her gigantic curtains created in her home studio. It’s the development and desire to learn new skills that have opened up different areas of work and alternative revenue streams. I think it’s really important as a designer to do this to keep things interesting but also to support yourself in multiple ways. Website - https://www.funmakesgood.co.uk/ Instagram - http://instagram.com/funmakesgood Bigg Design - www.biggdesign.co.uk Artfelt - https://www.tchc.org.uk/what-we-do/artfelt.html The Boring Talks - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05t3gr2/episodes/downloads

Designer, maker, teacher, wood worker, exhibition installer and co-owner of Tayberry Gallery in Perth, Louise has a lot going on and this episode is an amazing whirlwind of a journey. We start by going back to her final year university project of sexually inspired furniture that’s probably not for the feint hearted. Then there seemed to be a bit of a dip and potentially a creative lull where Louise realised that she really just wanted to work for herself. An opportunity arose to partner up with Sarah Spalding to run Tayberry gallery in Perth and Louise took it. To me it feels like Tayberry is the rock that stands firm in Louise’s life and it allows her to explore all these other pursuits that still make money but are much more creatively rewarding. It also came across that Louise has a real drive and urge to share her knowledge and understanding with others. This episode goes from the bizarre and wild to warm and comforting. If you do find yourself in Perth then drop in and rub your face on a spoon. Photo by Chris Lyon Website - http://www.tayberrygallery.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tayberrygallery/ Humpty House - https://www.rias.org.uk/directory/practices/ben-scrimgeour-building-workshop-ltd/humpty-house/

What would make your city more liveable/loveable? - http://dundeedesignfestival.com Fun a Day Dundee Website - https://funadaydundee.wordpress.com/ Fun a Day Dundee Twitter - https://twitter.com/faddundee?lang=en Fun a Day Dundee Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/funadaydundee/ Sam’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sambaxterart/ Sam’s Website - https://sambaxterart.co.uk/ Sam’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/sambaxter10?lang=en Sam is an artist and has found herself running Fun a Day Dundee. Starting each year for the month of January Fun a Day encourages people to do something creative for 31days in a row, culminating in an exhibition at Wasps studios in March. Fun a Day is a fantastic project making art much more accessible to everyone. It also offers everyone a brilliant opportunity to exhibit their work. Whether you’re brand new to it or it’s your day job, the project encourages the ritual repetition over 31days allowing you to practice and hone something. It’s a little difficult to describe as the scope is so broad it can really be anything to anyone which is great. I was really spurred to hear that Sam runs the only Fun a Day in the UK. The concept started in America with artists trying to refine their practice but despite the great idea it doesn’t seem to have spread over here. Sam talks about how she’s had engagement from people all over Scotland as her audience and participants grow each year. With 70 contributors last year and undoubtedly more this year I think it’s crucial that she is able to secure some financial back for it. Fingers crossed that it happens for her this year because she is running a fantastic project with real tangible benefits. I can’t encourage you enough to go and get involved. It’s way better than making a New Year’s resolution that you’ll never keep.