Dundee’s status the UK’s first UNESCO City of Design was formally launched today.
Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop met designers including architect Kirsty Maguire, fashion designer Hayley Scanlan, game designers Guerilla Tea and jeweller Jane Gowans as part of a three-day celebration of the city’s design strengths.
The launch involves showcasing Dundee’s designers to the public and asking everyone in Dundee what the UNESCO City of Design status should mean to them and how design can be used to improve their lives.
Ms Hyslop said: “Today is the opening line of a new chapter in Dundee’s story. Dundee’s status as the UK and Scotland’s first UNESCO City of Design carries with it the city’s great history as well as its bold ambitions as a centre of creativity for the future.
“This award is down to the people of Dundee who have embraced the city’s design-led vision to change their communities, change their lives and regenerate the city.
“They join a network of other great UNESCO design cities alongside the likes of Berlin, Montral and Shanghai using the power of design to promote cultural and creative talent and showcase our inspiring building design and places to the world.
“Dundee has a reputation as a hub of imagination and innovation that will continue to build as ambitious projects for the city come to fruition, not least the spectacular V&A and waterfront redevelopment.
“I look forward to watching Dundee continue to go from strength to strength under the banner of a UNESCO City of Design.”
The three-day celebration is a welcome boost for the city, after weeks of difficulty surrounding the soaring costs of the V&A design museum project.
Tim Williams, chairman of the UK National Commission for UNESCO, said: “We warmly welcome Dundee to the UK’s UNESCO Network as the first UK Creative City of Design.
“We look forward to working with the Dundee partnership within both the UK’s vibrant Creative Cities Network and the wider UNESCO family in the UK.”
UNESCO bid leader and Dundee’s director of leisure and communities, Stewart Murdoch said: “The focus for our first year as UNESCO City of Design Dundee is to look long and hard at what design is, and how designers from all sorts of backgrounds can help make a positive social impact.
“This series of events to launch our UNESCO title is about showing the citizens of Dundee some of the internationally important design that’s happening in our city, and encouraging anyone to come forward with their ideas for using design to solve the challenges they face in everyday life.
“Our ambition is simple to use design to improve people’s lives. From Guerilla Tea making a game to analyse cancer data to the V&A Dundee team running workshops in our community centres, there are a great many design successes in Dundee that we will build from and develop much further.”