Festive Design Market: DJCAD Graduates

Our Festive Design Market showcases the very best of Scottish design, this year along with Scottish makers we're showcasing the work of eight talented graduates from DJCAD. Find out who they are and more about their practice below.
Rachel Adam

Rachel Adam makes jewellery from horse hoof trimmings and recycled silver, with all materials ethically sourced and processed. The designs capture horsemanship and organic patterns; growing up in a rural setting surrounded by equestrian adventures provided a haven of inspiration and creativity. The hoof material creates beautiful jewellery and guarantees you always feel close to your hoofed friend.

Each piece of the hoof is unique in colour and shape; therefore, no two pieces will ever be the same. The strong hoof and the delicate silver structures create a juxtaposition that compliments jewellery design, aiming to contribute to the equestrian community by creating unique jewellery representing the precious bond humans and equines share.

Marly Merle

Marly Merle is a multidisciplinary artist currently working from her studio in Glasgow. In Marly's art practice, she is interested in exploring new worlds, cities and spaces to create physical artworks that provoke ideas around new and better places in which to exist. Focusing on ideas of ‘otherness’ and rejecting societal norms, Marly uses printmaking and wearable sculpture to question a person's own lived reality.

Declan McCourt

Declan is a Dundee based, freelance artist who specialises in printmaking and drawing.

Declan utilises drawing and sculpture as a means of communicating memories, stories, and ideas. Mental and physical ‘notes” or sketches of people, shapes and colours from places and memories are what drives their practice to communicate their own visual language of how they see the world. Through the translation of drawing, print making and writing to sculpture, McCourt explores the ephemerality of memory, space, and the haptic experience.

Ellen Forbes

Ellen Forbes is an illustrator, maker, and adventurer. She likes to make work that focuses on the small wonders, joys, and tribulations of life. Her work creates a space for others to feel less alone and to help them notice the beauty in the everyday. She does not focus on any medium and rather aims for her work to spark feelings of joy and childlike wonder, encouraging people to find hope when things feel hard and impossible.

Giorgos Asvestas

George is a Dundee based illustrator and maker, his art usually depicts themes from the natural world around us, with occasional illustrations that give the viewer a peek at the world inside his head. His illustrations are mostly representational and are based on imagery that he finds aesthetically pleasing or subject matters that he is particularly fond of at a given time. Depending on the brief, his work is achieved using a plethora of mediums, be that digital; charcoal and soft pastels; acrylics; watercolours; clay; or brass.

George prefers to work using limited colour pallets, which consists of black and white, with an additional accent colour. This style is usually reserved for works that come across as soft, ethereal and ones that evoke nostalgia.

Cameron Fraser

Cameron is a textile print designer who creates digitally printed silk scarves as well as prints. Focussing within print design, Cameron takes strong influences from architecture with the dynamic of colour and shape. Looking to pursue a career in fashion and design, he creates bold and beautiful fashion garments and accessories.

Shannon Keenan

Shake Design is a stationery and accessory business based in Dundee. Shannon has an illustrative design style with a love of all things colourful and creates products with a purpose, with the hope they will be used in a sustainable way.

For her graduate collection she designed sustainable fabric gift wraps, taking inspiration from the Japanese wrapping method of ‘Furokshiki’. The purpose of this collection is to promote sustainability in gift wrapping, by reusing the wraps and cutting down on paper waste. The designs which feature on the wraps were inspired by the plants on display at the Dundee Botanic Gardens. These bold and colourful designs are also featured on her other products such as notebooks, tote bags and prints.

Sandra Junele


JUNELE's products are made from waste, regenerative, fully circular and innovative material comprised of yarn waste and plant-based glue. Using sustainable glue allows the final material to be broken back down, by placing it in water, and reused potentially endless times.

Creating pieces that are functional and beautiful, while reducing waste, they work closely with their customers to create bespoke interior decor objects, seeing their potential for reuse and the impact it can have on our environment.

Join us for our free Festive Design Market from 25 - 27 November, 10.00 - 17.00 with a special late night opening until 20.00 on Friday. Find out more here.

The eight DJCAD graduates will be showcasing their work in our Designer in Residence Studio, make sure you don't miss it!

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