Christmas Tree made from recycled green bottles beside a fountain in Paris, another recycled bottle tree is in the background
21 September 2022  

OPEN CALL: Dundee Christmas Trees

Call out for five designers to create a sustainable, bespoke, outdoor ‘Christmas Tree’.

In cities all around the world, festive tree displays are a highlight of the season. Beautiful and inspiring trees are created by designers who combine festive traditions and contemporary design.

This year, UNESCO City of Design and V&A Dundee in partnership with Dundee City Council are looking to commission five designers or creative practitioners to create bespoke and unique ‘Christmas Trees’ as part of Dundee’s Festive Celebrations.

The ‘Trees’ will form part of a display located beside Dundee’s Living Christmas Tree at City Churches.

Rather than simply decorating a tree, this brief seeks designers who will create a ‘tree’ which tells its own story. The design must use the ‘Christmas Tree’ as the central focus and inspiration, but final designs can take any form.

The project is seeking creative, unique designs which respond to the concept of a central Christmas Tree in festival celebrations. While the main inspiration for this brief is the Christmas Tree, we are looking for responses that celebrate the diversity of the winter period from different perspectives.

Considering the environmental impact of large-scale festivities and the commitment from the city to celebrate our own living Christmas tree, this project centres the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle. All elements of the ‘tree’ and its decoration must be made from 100% reused or recycled materials.

This opportunity is open to:

  • Designers and makers who live or work in Dundee (defined as living or work address with a DD1 – DD7 postcode)
  • Designers from Dundeee (defined as DD1 – DD7 postcode) and recent graduates (graduating in the last 4 years from a Dundee university)

Each designer / creative practitioners will be awarded £2500 to cover all materials, production, installation and fee.

Read the full brief and apply here

Deadline for submissions: 12 Noon, Wednesday 5th October. 

Designers awarded: By Monday 10th October

Install date: Thursday 17th November

If you have any questions regarding the project please email contact@dundeecityofdesign.com

Travel Mug Dundee Designers
16 January 2020  

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: CODE Souvenir Dundee

Dundee’s UNESCO City of Design team are issuing the first CODE Souvenir Dundee call for proposals. This call invites Dundee designers-producers to submit souvenir items for inclusion in the first CODE Souvenir Dundee catalogue.

The goal is to select an array of items for publication in a catalogue for distribution. CODE Souvenir is an original concept developed by Montréal. Whether presented to dignitaries, partners, companies, VIPs, tourists or Dundonians themselves, the items highlight the design know-how and creativity of Dundee designers. The catalogue will be distributed in print and also available online, launching in Summer 2020.

The deadline for submissions is 5pm on the 12th February 2020.

Each applicant can submit as many items as they wish, however each item must be submitted separately.

Each submission includes:

  • A completed version of the Item Identification File (Appendix A); one file per item submitted);
  • A maximum of 3 (minimum of 1) photos showing the product;
  • A sample of the  item as it would be sold;

For full submission guidelines and information on how to submit your item(s) to CODE Souvenir Dundee, click here.

For any enquiries, please email contact@dundeecityofdesign.com

[1]. CODE is an original concept by Raban Ruddigkeit of the Berlin agency ® ruddigkeit corporate ideas. CODE is an acronym for City Of Design and marks a city’s particular character (“DNA”).

[2]. To view the previous edition of the Montréal catalogue visit designmontreal.com/en/code-souvenir-montreal.