A selection of Scotland’s most exciting designers have been invited by curator Dr Stacey Hunter to create a unique pair of bookends, inspired by pioneering Dundonian journalists Marie Imandt and Bessie Maxwell.
In 1894, Marie and Bessie were asked by DC Thomson to undertake a round-the-world trip visiting ten different countries all whilst reporting back to readers across the UK about what they saw. Their writings considered design culture from Florence to Tokyo, as they described train carriages, tea ceremonies and more.
Responding to these reports, the contemporary Scottish designers created sets of bookends in a variety of innovative materials, all whilst using sustainable manufacturing methods. A selection of these bookends can be seen on display in
Central Library, shown for the first time since their premiere at Dundee Design Festival in 2024.
Each designer explored experimental approaches, and innovative techniques to create their bookends. Dundee-based designer Aymeric Renould repurposed spent grain from the brewing process, compressing it into sheets to create stacked layers. Kate Trouw, based in Kinghorn, Fife, reused slag glass (a by-product of metal ore smelting processes) sourced from a former coal mine near Alloa, whilst Glasgow-based Soorin Shin 3-D printed their braided designs using both recycled filament and plant-based bioplastics.
Every pair of bookends is unique, reflecting how each designer creates, thinks and designs differently.
Dundee-based designer Louise Forbes said: “It’s great to see my work back on display alongside so many other amazing designers. My bookends look at the current issues facing buildings constructed from RAAC, considering the impermanence of this faulty material.”
Louise Forbes made their bookends from RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete). Although the C stands for concrete, it has absolutely no properties or connections to it; in fact, many of the buildings it was used in are now being declared unsafe. The bookends act as a metaphor for the impermanence of RAAC and its dependence on other materials.
Lizzie Day, Project Coordinator at UNESCO City of Design Dundee, said: “We’re pleased to exhibit BOOKENDS as part of Dundee Book Festival! It’s brilliant to have these amazing pieces of design back out on public display in such a fitting setting.”
BOOKENDS is free to see at Central Library and runs from 18 – 21 June 2026. Dundee Book Festival at Central Library and The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum runs from 19 – 21 June 2026.
BOOKENDS was originally curated and devised by Dr Stacey Hunter for Dundee Design Festival 2024. Dundee Design Festival is a UNESCO City of Design Dundee project.
Leisure & Culture Dundee
Leisure & Culture Dundee is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation that delivers Leisure, Cultural and Library Services for the people of Dundee and beyond.
