Design Exhibition Scotland is a pioneering initiative that celebrates & supports exceptional designers, fresh ideas & new possibilities. In Design for our Times we showcase four projects spurred by a desire to champion material innovation & a series of drinking fountains for our contemporary age.

Building bricks made of 90% construction waste, furniture made of 'spent grain' left over from whisky & gin distilling, tree shelters made from mycelium & gypsum extracted from unwanted plasterboard & crafted into a bench - four ingenious projects that explore material innovation & new ways of working. The K-Briq embraces the circular economy; Draff furniture has invented a new material; Shroom rethinks tree shelters offering an alternative to standard-issue plastic sleeves that litter the landscape & Chalk Plaster revive & refresh time-honoured processes using age old materials for contemporary application. And drinking fountains - once a common sight across the country, they were a generous and civic celebration of free and clean drinking water. Invariably beautifully crafted, frequently flamboyant & eye-catching affairs, today's top-up-taps tend towards the mundane & near invisible. Design Exhibition is bucking this trend, commissioning designers & artists - Mirrl of Glasgow, Tania Kovats & Laura Aldridge & James Rigler - to craft more good looking alternatives.

1/4Feuillete Chair Barley, 2021 by Draff Studio, Dundee , Gavin Craigie