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 b

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.alastairw

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’

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

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 dif

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

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 hap

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 circums

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 F

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. http

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 tr

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

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'. B