DESTINATIONS: V & A opens its first-ever design museum in Scotland

A gallery of Scottish design

The design world has been waiting to see what Japanese starchitect 
Kengo Kuma would create on the banks of the River Tay
for the Victoria & Albert's brand new purpose-built
design venue. It's the first V & A exhibition space of any kind 
outside of London, and opened in the fall of 2018.

Kuma commented: "The big idea for V&A Dundee was bringing together 
nature and architecture, and to create a new living room for the city."
The new venue is part of a £1 billion renovation of the city's waterfront.

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The boat-shaped building is especially stunning at night,
bobbling gently in the harbor.

Highlights include the Scottish Design Galleries, featuring 300 exhibits drawn 
from the V&A’s collections of Scottish design and fashion, and from museums 
and private collections across Scotland and the world.

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“At the center of these galleries stands the magnificent Charles Rennie 
Mackintosh Oak Room meticulously restored, conserved and reconstructed,” according to the museum. “Visitors will be able to experience once again Mackintosh’s extraordinary talent in designing this room, 
lost to view for nearly 50 years.”

Drawing of the Oak Room in the 
Ingram Street Tea Rooms in 1935
(rendering by Sir Hugh Casson)

Detail of Oak Tea Room staircase

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The museum’s programming opens with “Ocean Liners: Speed and Style,” organized by the V&A and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The exhibition will explore the design and cultural impact of the ocean liner on an international scale. It is showing from now through
Sunday Feb. 24.

                             Normandie Ship 1935 Print

Above: Two-piece yellow wool jersey bathing suit 
by Finnigans Ltd., London 1937-39.

 Above: Silk georgette and glass beaded ‘Salambo’ dress, 1925.

"From Brunel’s 1859 steamship, the Great Eastern, to the launch of the QE2 in 1969, Ocean Liners is the first exhibition to fully explore the design and cultural impact of ocean liners on an international scale, focusing on their promotion, engineering, interior design, as well as the lifestyle on board."

Link here for information about the ocean liners exhibition

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Dundee -- it's not just for marmalade any more!

Many of us know the city of Dundee, Scotland as the

world capital of marmalade, invented there in 1790.

Now, the market for the "bracingly ripe and bitter shards of peel 

and zest" is quickly diminishing; eighty per cent of the stuff 

is sold to consumers aged over 45.

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What is to be done to reinvent the city, to

proclaim a new, modern, image?

Why, build a brand new, jazzy design museum, of course.

The ocean liner lifestyle on display 

With more than 2,500 single-cut, circular-cut 
and rose-cut diamonds, 

this tiara features a pair of ‘en tremblant’ wings 

that sway slightly when worn.

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A gobsmacked visitor to the new V & A Design Museum.

Opening hours daily 10AM to 5PM

 It's free!

 "Marmalade Skies" by Phil Wassell

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