Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Creatives give run-down Dundee building the kiss of life

Young designer Charlotte Lodge with some of her scarves at Kissed.
Young designer Charlotte Lodge with some of her scarves at Kissed.

Dundee’s creative community has turned a run-down building into a food and art hub where new start-ups can showcase their work.

Kissed, a new social enterprise, recently opened their doors at 31 Albert Square with the aim of providing floor-space to budding artists and designers hoping to reach a wider audience.

There are also opportunities for hospitality and retail graduates to be employed at the venue, which has a coffee shop.

The idea is to help graduates make the leap from the university environment to the “real world” of work, including becoming an entrepreneur.

kissed_dundee

Leslie Dick, who is one of the directors, said: “The past few weeks have been exciting, but it has been a slow build-up.

“We’re at the stage where we’re trying to let people know we’re here.

“The whole concept is that we’re a social enterprise, meaning everything goes back into the business and the community.

“We’re working with the community and with various industries including retail and hospitality, giving people who are just starting out in their fields a stepping stone.

“We’re not limited to graduates and students either – there are no strict criteria about who gets involved, the only thing they have to be is local and just starting out.

“The aim is to work with future entrepreneurs.”

Head chef Craig Trewern.
Head chef Craig Trewern.

The layout of the new venture includes a café with jewellery exhibits by local designers, a mezzanine floor for seating with a view of the McManus and space for pop-up shops, as well as a fashion space for vintage clothes and garments by new designers.

At the café, we caught up with the chef, Craig Trewern, and Melissa Cooper, the events, hospitality and business team leader.

Melissa  said: “I graduated from Dundee and Angus College two years ago and I’m now a business student at Abertay University.

“Coming here wasn’t like going into a fully established business – a few weeks ago this place looked nothing like a café.

“We built it all up from scratch and worked on every aspect of the business, which was a big learning curve and very useful experience.”

Craig, who graduated from Elmwood College in Cupar, was brought in to develop the kitchen and the menu.

He said: “At the moment we’re doing soups, sandwiches and cakes, but as we grow we’re going start doing main meals as well.”

Kissed will have a formal launch on September 22. For more information visit www.facebook.com/Kisseddundee.