Welcome to DES Talks, lively conversations celebrating creativity from Design Exhibition Scotland.
In this episode Susanna explores the life and work of the outstanding artist Donald Locke who studied at Edinburgh College of Art in the 1960s. Born in Guyana in 1930, Locke's work in ceramic, on canvas, in sculpture and film meld together materials, ideas and politics. It's radical, powerful work. Locke died in 2010.
Susanna is joined by Brenda Locke, Locke's wife and manager of the Donald Locke Estate and curator Tiffany Boyle. Tiffany, co-founded of the curatorial agency Mother Tongue, curated Revisiting the Work of Black Artists in Scotland Through New Collecting at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow in 2022. The exhibition which included ceramic work by Locke, vitally raised awareness of his work. Locke's work has since been acquired by Glasgow Museums, National Museums of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh.
A brilliant retrospective exhibition of Locke's work, Resistance Forms, is currently at the Ikon, Birmingham until 22 February 2026. It was previously at Spike Island, Bristol and opens at Camden Arts Centre, London from the 3 April - 6 September 2026.
Further reading / viewing
Curator's talk - Robert Leckie on Resistance Forms
Panel discussion - Hew Locke, Giulia Smith & Robert Leckie on Resistance Forms
Guardian review of Resistance Forms
Mother Tongue on GoMA: Revisiting Black Artists in Scotland Through New Collecting
Tiffany Boyle's article in Map magazine
Thank you for listening to DES Talks. Please do spread the word, share, subscribe, rave and rate. We are new to this game and keen to reach as many listeners as possible, far and wide. And do explore our previous podcasts - we explore V&A Dundee's exhibition Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine with V&A curator Rachel Dedman and artists Leena Nammari and Aya Haidar; we talk Harvest, Craft Scotland's recent showcase of contemporary craft with curator Stacey Hunter and potter, Samuel Sparrow and weaver, Julia Rebaudo. Or tune into Frances Priest or Cara Guthrie talking about clay and Gráinne Rice discussing the pure beauty of the clothes designed by the visionary textile artist, Bernat Klein.
Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through exhibitions, conversations, commissions and now podcasts.
Production
Ryan Scott Film
Music
Malin Lewis
Welcome to DES Talks! In this episode Susanna is out and about in Edinburgh's port Leith, which lies to the north of the city. It is where the Water of Leith from its source 20 miles south in the Pentland Hills, flows into the Firth of Forth and the onwards into the North Sea. It was once a place of ship building, trade, sea transport and travel - a place of glass works and bottling, soap factories and barrel makers and warehouses.
Today many of these former spaces have been transformed into artist studios and workshops. There’s Coburg House Studios, Cyan Clay Works, SilverHub Studios, Mote exhibition space and Leith School of Art.
Our focus today is on Custom Lane, located beside the Water of Leith and behind an imposing early 19th century building, Custom House. We explore Custom Lane, its gallery space and the exhibition Feminine Literacy; we talk craft, materials and making with Hugo Macdonald, founder of Bard, an intimate haven for the hand-made and we chat to Gunnar Groves Raines, architect and founder of GRAS Studios, who has turned Custom Lane in a thriving space that celebrates art, craft and making. And we hear more on Gunnar's new venture, Brown’s of Leith. Until recently, home to the engineering company, George Brown and Sons, it is now a place to meet, eat and drink with visionary plans to transform the upper spaces in to showcase for craft and design.
We hope you enjoy DES Talks.
Bard is at 1 Customs Wharf Leith Edinburgh EH6 6AL and is open Friday - Sunday 11am - 5pm or by appointment.
Brown's of Leith is at 4 - 6 Shore Leith EH6 6QS and is open Thursday - Sunday 8am - 8pm.
Feminine Literacy was curated and presented by Doyenne Studio.
Thank you for listening to DES Talks. Please do spread the word, share, subscribe, rave and rate. We are new to this game and keen to reach as many listeners as possible, far and wide. And do explore our previous podcasts - we explore V&A Dundee's exhibition Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine with V&A curator Rachel Dedman and artists Leena Nammari and Aya Haidar; we talk Harvest, Craft Scotland's recent showcase of contemporary craft with curator Stacey Hunter and potter, Samuel Sparrow and weaver, Julia Rebaudo. Or tune into Frances Priest or Cara Guthrie talking about clay and Gráinne Rice discussing the pure beauty of the clothes designed by the visionary textile artist, Bernat Klein.
Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through exhibitions, conversations, commissions and now podcasts.
Production
Ryan Scott Film
Music
Malin Lewis
Welcome to DES Talks
In this episode of DES Talks, Susanna explores the exhibition Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine, which is currently on at V&A Dundee until April 26th, 2026.
To discuss this beautiful and powerful exhibition, Susanna is joined by Thread Memory curator Rachel Dedman, writer, art historian and since 2019 the Jameel Curator of Contemporary Art from the Middle East at V&A, London; together with two contemporary practitioners whose work features in Thread Memory. Aya Haidar is a London-based Lebanese artist and Leena Nammari, is a Palestinian artist and printmaker based in Edinburgh.
Walking into Thread Memory at V&A Dundee, you are greeted by an array of long-sleeved women's robes, dating mainly from the late 19th and early 20th century. One is overwhelmed by colour, intricacy and beauty. Fiery reds, magentas and oranges and sometimes deep blues often stitched onto dark-coloured cotton. Then there are eye-catchingly bright striped robes in yellow and green. Exquisite detail and the decorative are brought together. Each stitch marks time and place and the skilled, deft movement of numerous hands and fingers.
This is tatreez, the ancient art of elaborate embroidery stitched by Palestinian women for Palestinian women.
Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine is at V&A Dundee until 26th April 2026. You can find out more about the work of artists Leena Nammari and Aya Haidar here.
Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine was developed in close partnership with our colleagues at the Palestinian Museum in the West Bank, Art Jameel in Saudi Arabia and V&A South Kensington.
The exhibition draws on diverse historical sources and the expertise of our partners. All interpretation text about the history of Palestine is based on information researched and written by the United Nations.
For information on the history and significance of tatreez, these books may be informative:
For more on the politics of Palestinian dress, and the intersection of resistance and cultural heritage:
The Subversive Stitch – Rozika Parker 1984
Ursula K Le Guin’s 1984 essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, instead of the weapon, it was the vessel for carrying, or the plastic bag, the shopping bag.
Useful links
https://www.kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/material-power-palestinian-embroidery/
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2025/aug/18/a-symbol-of-palestinian-presence-and-identity-the-personal-and-political-world-of-tatreez-in-pictures
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tatreez-the-ancient-art-of-palestinian-embroidery?srsltid=AfmBOoo709NQ6C0xb-jUKlJss04WMLNItbBqHO36IvyXS0IgRAWao6yp
Thank you for listening to DES Talks. Please do spread the word, share, subscribe, rave and rate. We are new to this game and keen to reach as many listeners as possible, far and wide. And do explore our previous podcasts - we talk Harvest, Craft Scotland's recent showcase of contemporary craft with curator Stacey Hunter and potter, Samuel Sparrow and weaver, Julia Rebaudo. Or tune into Frances Priest or Cara Guthrie talking about clay and Gráinne Rice discussing the pure beauty of the clothes designed by the visionary textile artist, Bernat Klein.
Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through exhibitions, conversations, commissions and now podcasts.
Production
Ryan Scott Film
Music
Malin Lewis
Welcome to DES Talks, our lively exploration of making and creating from across Scotland. In this episode we celebrate Harvest.
A showcase of work by 80 makers and designers, Harvest is a thrilling new initiative from Craft Scotland. From furniture to jewellery, ceramics to basketry, woodwork to glass, Harvest is an ambitious exhibition which champions both rich craft traditions and the energy, innovation and skill of contemporary makers from across Scotland. Harvest celebrates the power of the hand to craft and create, to fashion and form and to work with an inspiring array of materials.
In this conversation, Susanna welcomes Harvest curator, Stacey Hunter along with potter Samuel Sparrow who creates beautifully pared down tableware and in the small town of Thornhill in Dumfries and Galloway and Julia Rebaudo who lives along with her flock of sheep in the Scottish Highlands, where they provide wool which she transforms into rugs and wall hangings. Their conversation explores the ideas that have inspired Harvest and Samuel and Julia's journey to becoming makers.
Harvest is at City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, Edinburgh EH1 1DE, just across from Waverley train station. It is open daily from 10am - 4pm, Saturday 11 – Sunday 19 October. All welcome and free of charge. Getting there information here.
For more information on the 80 makers, workshops and events do head to Craft Scotland's website or follow on Instagram for updates and images of the exhibition. And to explore more fully the work of Samuel Sparrow, head to his website and to find out more about Julia Rebaudo's sheep and weaving process, do visit her website.
Thank you for listening to DES Talks. And please do spread the word, share, subscribe, rave and rate. We are new to this game and keen to reach as many listeners as possible, far and wide.
Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through exhibitions, conversations, commissions and now podcasts.
Production
Ryan Scott Film
Music
Malin Lewis
He was visionary, energetic and exacting. He delighted in colour, texture and the great outdoors. He pushed boundaries and challenged conventions. In our latest DES podcast, we chat to Gráinne Rice about all things Bernat Klein, the Serbian-born textile designer and artist who for over 60 years lived and worked in the Scottish Borders.
Gráinne has long immersed herself in the life and work of Bernat Klein. She first came across the designer and textile manufacturer in 2001 as a young researcher and has since gone on to acquire many of his exquisitely tailored outfits. She talks to Susanna about Klein's early years, his influences and his ideas . . and she shares her favourite Klein outfit, a glorious 1970s kaftan coloured in a swirl and whirl of purples!
Klein who was born in 1922 in Serbia, moved to post-war Britain to study textile technology at the university of Leeds. In 1950, together with his new wife, collaborator & knitwear designer, Margaret Soper, he moved to the Scottish Borders, where their collective energy and vision produced truly beautiful and ground-breaking textiles. He innovated, wove velvet with mohair, brought colour and contours to printed fabric and in turn wowed the Paris catwalks.
And Klein's delight in the contemporary was brilliantly exemplified in his and Margaret’s commissioning of the modernist architect, Peter Womersley (1923 – 1993) to build firstly, their home High Sunderland in 1957 and then a neighbouring studio in 1972, in the Borders near to Galashiels.
Bernat Klein died in 2014.
Dr Gráinne Rice is Adult Programme Coordinator in the Learning and Engagement team at National Galleries of Scotland. She is a Board Director of Uplands CIC and The Steven Campbell Trust.
To find out more about Klein, head to Bernat Klein Foundation, read The See-Through House by his daughter, Shelley Klein or visit online the National Museum of Scotland's Design in Colour. Find out more about Margaret Klein's often overlooked role as a knitwear designer in Fleece to Fashion. Read more about the Bernat Klein Fellowships at Cove Park, in Argyll. Find out more about Womersley's studio which was acquired in July by the Bernat Klein Foundation, National Trust for Scotland and the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, who plan to renovate, restore and reopen this magnificent modernist masterpiece.
Thank you for listening to DES Talks - this is our seventh podcast - and do spread the word, share, subscribe, rave and rate. We are new to this game and keen to reach as many listeners as possible, far and wide. And huge thanks again to those who have helped make the first and now this second series happen. In particular, thanks to Malin Lewis for the music accompanying our DES Talks and Ryan Scott Film for production.
Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through podcasts, exhibitions, conversations and commissions.
Production
Ryan Scott Film
Music
Malin Lewis
Cara Guthrie is a studio potter based in the town of Dunkeld, Perthshire. Born and raised in Scotland, she first studied Human Geography before a chance encounter with clay at a pottery taster class in London in her late 20s convinced her that this was the material she wanted to further explore and work with.
Cara went on to become an apprentice in the celebrated studio of KHWurtz in rural Denmark before returning to the UK where she worked with the Anglo-Japanese, Cumbria based potter, William Plumptre. Back in Scotland, she set up a studio in the Pentlands, a range of hills just south of Edinburgh, before moving to Dunkeld on the fringes of the Scottish Highlands.
Her thrown ceramics of simple forms and muted tones can found in restaurants such as Inver on the west coast's Loch Fyne and Edinburgh's Little Chartroom - an early commission from homeware and fashion company, Toast brought her much critical acclaim.
In this episode of DES Talks, Cara share insights into her early years, the primal joy of working with clay and her latest work, an installation entitled PRODUCTION - on show at Custom Lane gallery in Leith, Edinburgh until 5th September. It is a new brilliant new departure for Cara, it is a conceptual work comprising 1800 milk-white porcelain vessels set over 12 industrial shelving units. Each vessel represents an hour spent breast or chest feeding an infant. It is a poignantly beautiful timepiece recognising time spent feeding.
Do join Susanna and Cara as the talk about the power of the hand, the personal and the political.
Links
https://www.instagram.com/caraguthrieceramics
https://www.caraguthrieceramics.com/
@wasteclaynetwork
https://customlane.co/event/2811/
Thank you for exploring DES Talks - this is our sixth podcast - and do spread the word, share, subscribe, rave and rate. We are new to this game and keen to reach as many listeners as possible, far and wide. And huge thanks again to those who have helped make the first and now this second series happen. In particular, thanks to Malin Lewis for the music accompanying our DES Talks and Ryan Scott for production.
Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through podcasts, exhibitions, conversations and commissions.
Production
Ryan Scott Film
Music
Malin Lewis
The Hugo Burge Foundation is a brilliantly energetic and ambitious charity supporting the arts and crafts. Located in a green and lush stretch of the Scottish Borders, near to the town of Duns, the Foundation was launched last year and celebrates the life of the late Hugo Burge, a dynamic and passionate entrepreneur and supporter of creativity. Over the last 10 years of his life, Hugo turned his home here on the Marchmont estate, into a buzzing haven for makers and creators.
Orbiting a beautifully restored steading and a glorious walled garden, the Foundation is home to chair makers, The Marchmont Workshop and the Marchmont Silversmithing Workshop as well as numerous studio spaces and accommodation pods which host an ongoing and vibrant residency programme for makers, artists, writers and performers.
Join us as Susanna enjoys a roving conversation with the Foundation's CEO, Lucy Brown; silversmithers Scott Smith and Katie Watson and head gardener Toby Loveday, to talk the joy of creativity and future plans.
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Thank you for exploring DES Talks! Please do spread the word, share, subscribe and rate. We are new to this game and keen to reach as many listeners as possible, far and wide.
Huge thanks again to those who have helped make this first series happen. In particular, thanks to Malin for the music accompanying our DES Talks and Ryan Scott for recording and editing.
Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through podcasts, exhibitions, conversations and commissions.
Production
Ryan Scott
Music
Malin
The Marchmont Workshop's Rich Platt & Sam Cooper are celebrated as the saviours of the rush-seated chair. A centuries-old art, the craft of rush seating was by the late 20th century in steady decline. Rich & Sam's journey in rush-seated chair making began in 2018 when they became apprentices to Lawrence Neal, one of the last remaining rush seaters in the UK.
In 2020 thanks to an invitation from the philanthropist, Hugo Burge, they opened their own workshop in a former Robert Lorimer-designed garage on Hugo's Marchmont estate in the Scottish Borders. Eight years on, they recently took on their own apprentice, Isaac Uden.
Following in the footsteps of the great Arts and Craft furniture makers, Philip Clissett and Ernest Gimson, Rich and Sam craft both time-honoured classics and explore and create new designs. As to the rushes, annually, the decidedly hands-on Rich and Sam, don their waders and head south to cut rushes from a Warwickshire river. On returning to Scotland, they dry the rush which is then woven into seats of chairs predominately made from locally felled ash and oak. And their order book is packed.
The Marchmont Workshop are currently exhibiting in Ash Rise, a touring exhibition celebrating the ash tree presented by the Scottish Furniture Makers Association.
https://themarchmontworkshop.com/
https://www.hugoburgefoundation.org/
Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through podcasts, exhibitions, conversations and commissions. https://www.designexhibitionscotland.co.uk/
Production
Ryan Scott
https://www.ryanscottfilm.com/
Music
Malin
https://www.instagram.com/malinlewismusic/
Welcome to DES Talks, a new podcast from Design Exhibition Scotland where Susanna Beaumont celebrates making and creating in a series conversations with designers, craftspeople, makers and artists, who share insights into their working life, delights, influences and ideas.
In this episode, Susanna talks to architect Chris Dobson and Guy Philips, founder of Highland Heritage Woodworks who discuss the making of Monolith, a bold beauty of a bench sited in the grounds of Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute.
Melding together the brutal honesty of 1970s concrete bus shelters found on the Isle of Lewis and the handcrafted & time honoured Orkney chair, Monolith is a sheltering bench for our contemporary age. Designed by Chris in response to Design Exhibition Scotland's open call to design a park bench in 2022, it was fabricated by the Aberdeenshire based Highland Heritage Woodworks, a pioneering sawmill on the Dunecht estate, west of Aberdeen that celebrates the good use of locally-felled trees. Made of Douglas fir from the Glen Dye estate, the bench is made using CLT, cross laminated timber, a process that both Chris and Guy believe has huge potential to be used more widely.
Chris Dobson is an Edinburgh-based architect. He is a director at 3D Reid who are currently working on the renovation of Edinburgh's celebrated store, Jenners. https://www.3dreid.com/project/jenners-edinburgh/
Guy Philips is founder and CEO of Highland Heritage Woodworks. Formerly a geologist, he established HHW in 2022 alongside master carpenter, Armands Balams. https://woodworks.scot/
Mount Stuart House and grounds on the Isle of Bute are open to the public. This year they are celebrating 25 years of presenting exhibitions, commissions and installations of contemporary art. Monolith is situated to south of the house. https://www.mountstuart.com/
Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through podcast, exhibitions, conversations and commissions. https://www.designexhibitionscotland.co.uk/
Production
Ryan Scott
https://www.ryanscottfilm.com/
Music
Malin
https://www.instagram.com/malinlewismusic/
Welcome to DES Talks, a new podcast from Design Exhibition Scotland where Susanna Beaumont celebrates making and creating in a series conversations with designers, craftspeople, makers and artists, who share insights into their working lives, delights, influences and ideas.
Stefanie Ying Lin Cheong is a Glasgow-based designer and maker who explores geology and rock formations. Curious about materials both ancient and modern, she studied jewellery and silversmith at Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 2013. Inspired by an interest in responsibly-sourced raw materials, her jewellery collections seek to celebrate both the commonplace and the precious and tell stories about time and place.
https://www.stefaniecheong.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/stefaniecheong/
https://www.designexhibitionscotland.co.uk/
Production
Ryan Scott
https://www.ryanscottfilm.com/
Music
Malin
https://www.instagram.com/malinlewismusic/
Welcome to DES Talks, a new podcast from Design Exhibition Scotland where Susanna Beaumont celebrates making and creating in a series of conversations with designers, craftspeople, makers and artists, who share insights into their working lives, influences and ideas.
In our first DES Talks, Susanna chats to Frances Priest, the Edinburgh-based artist maker and designer who works in ceramics. A graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, Frances talks through her early years, her delight in working in clay on both the large and small scale and the sheer joy of the decorative. Frances shares thoughts on materials and making and her collaboration with garden designers Duncan Hall and Nick Burton on the Silver Gilt awarded The Down's Syndrome Scotland Garden for this year's Chelsea Flower Show.
http://www.francespriest.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/francesprieststudio/
https://www.designexhibitionscotland.co.uk/
Production
Ryan Scott
https://www.ryanscottfilm.com/
Music
Malin
https://www.instagram.com/malinlewismusic/