Sitting Pretty is the result of an open call held by Design Exhibition Scotland which asked Scotland-based designers to design a prototype park bench for the grounds of Mount Stuart in Bute.

The benches aim to reflect on the potential within these objects to connect people to nature, to encourage them to reflect on human relations, and to offer the luxury of calmness and stillness in an ever-changing and fast-paced world.

Four new benches were created to be joined by a further fifth bench, designed by the artist James Rigler.

The display showcases the importance of making and prototyping, while encouraging us to question how, when, and why we may interact with a park bench in the outdoors, while exploring these questions.

Rekha Barry is an architect who designs functional objects. Based in Glasgow, she founded Rekha Maker in early 2020. She has since produced a range of homewares and in 2020 Local Heroes commissioned her to make the trophy for the winner of The Scottish Album of the Year.

Chris Dobson
is an architect with 3DReid, based in Edinburgh. He is also a co-producer of the Architecture Fringe, a bi-annual festival of multi-disciplinary events centred around our built environment.

Dress for the Weather is an architectural practice based in Glasgow founded by Andy Campbell and Matt McKenna. The practice experiments with materials and sampling to connect craft, ecology and construction.
Stefanie Cheong is a designer and maker who explores geology and rock formations to inform her work. She brings a contemporary aesthetic to traditional lapidary process by cutting found and discarded rock and has recently introduced making her own rocks from waste streams.

James Rigler is based in Glasgow where he predominantly works in ceramics, crafting and moulding forms that are frequently inspired by architectural details and interiors. He exhibited at London Design Festival with Local Heroes in 2021. In 2019 he completed a permanent commission for Aberdeen Art Gallery and collaborated with Laura Aldridge on a series of drinking fountains for Design Exhibition Scotland.

C. A. Walac’s work investigates the abstract realm of objects and conjures up playful sculptural forms. Walac exhibited at Design Exhibition Scotland 2019, Dutch Design Days with Movimento in 2020 and more recently in The Future of Home at London Design Festival with Local Heroes.