Sitting Pretty: a conversation with designers
Date and time
Join our conversation with the designers selected to design a series of park benches for the grounds of Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute
About this event
Join us at Mount Stuart for a conversation with the designers, architects & artists behind a series of especially commissioned park benches currently sited in the grounds of Mount Stuart, an historic house on the Isle of Bute.
Selected through an Open Call announced last December, Chris Dobson / Rekha Maker / Dress for the Weather x Stefanie Cheong / C. A. Walac will share insights into the inspiration & ideas behind their designs & how the commission has influenced their journeys in design. They will be joined by James Rigler who Design Exhibition Scotland commissioned to design a bench for an interior space at Mount Stuart, its splendid Marble Hall. The conversation will be hosted by Susanna Beaumont, commissioner & founder of Design Exhibition Scotland.
They will be an opportunity to view all the benches & meet the designers at Mount Stuart.
Last December, Design Exihbition Scotland launched an Open Call to artists, designers & architects from across Scotland to design a prototype park benches for the grounds of Mount Stuart. A celebration of all that is brilliant about sitting on bench, enjoying a view, catching your breath, the commissions are of course also a celebration of contemporary design & making in Scotland today. The four selected proposals were from architect Chris Dobson; designer / architect Rekha Maker; Andy Campbell from the architectural practice, Dress for the Weather in collaboration with jeweller Stefanie Cheong & artist & designer C. A. Walac.
The selection panel was Sophie Crichton Stuart, creative director, Mount Stuart Visual Arts; Sophie McKinlay, director of programme, V&A Dundee; artist & designer, James Rigler & Susanna Beaumont, Design Exhibition Scotland.
Design Exhibition Scotland is delighted that Lyon & Turnbull are lead supporters of our park bench commissions. We also thank The Inches Carr Trust, The Hope Scott Trust & our DES Supporters for their support.
Image above: Rekha Maker with Vista, 2022 in the grounds of Mount Stuart. Credit Mark Gibson.
Image below: Dress for the Weather x Stefanie Cheong - Stone + Plastic Bench 01 + 02, 2022 in the grounds of Mount Stuart. Credit Mark Gibson.