02.02.26
Each year, Creative Dundee’s Amps network comes together for our Forum, an annual event where people in the network present pitches for the Community Ideas Fund – a fund that encourages Amps to collaborate on a new, experimental idea that will result in a positive social impact in Dundee. With the recipient chosen by Amps and approximately 50% of all Amps subscriptions going towards the pot, it’s a fund that exists thanks to our growing community.
In April 2025, jewellery designer/maker and Double Door Studios founder Islay Spalding and jewellery designer and educator Katie New teamed up to present their project: Dundee Open Studios: the Jewellery Edition. In this blog, Islay and Katie share their experience of their project to life thanks to the support of the Community Ideas Fund.
The 2026 Community Ideas Fund is open for applications until Mon 31 March! Find out more about the fund and how you can pitch a project or take part.
The idea started as one of those late night conversations: fuelled by wine on a dark winter’s night, talking about how we get more people to know about the independent jewellers working in Dundee, and comparing the differences with the jewellery scene in London. Katie shared how open studios were a regular fixture in London’s creative calendar, which she had participated in and helped organise, offering a simple but powerful way for makers to connect directly with people.
We both knew that Perth, Fife and Angus held open studio events, and Wasps sometimes opened their doors in Dundee, but there was nothing organised for local makers outwith that. The conversation turned into a plan: with Katie’s experience in London and Islay’s knowledge of Dundee, why not do something similar here, to celebrate Dundee’s own vibrant and diverse community of jewellers?
When we were awarded the Amps Community Ideas Fund in April 2025, we were excited to bring an idea we’d been talking about for months to life: Dundee Open Studio: the Jewellery Edition.
We decided to hold the Open Studios over two weekends in September, between summer markets and the pre-Christmas rush. The final weekend also coincided with Doors Open Days, which helped create a sense of shared city-wide discovery.
We spent April to September inviting participants, gathering information, developing a brand identity, and designing maps, posters and promotional assets. 22 jewellers across 10 studios signed up to take part. Some opened their own studios and gave visitors the chance to see where and how their jewellery is made; some exhibited a collection of work with others. Participating studios were encouraged to open for all four days, but we realised we had to be more flexible so as many of us could take part as possible, so participants signed up for their chosen days and submitted their opening times for us to share.
Some studios hosted talks and workshops where people could exchange ideas and learn new skills. These were all promoted on participants’ own social media platforms so they could control timings, any last minute information and visitor enquiries. Everyone was supplied with graphics, branding and copy to use on their own social media posts and mailing lists to help consistency across promotion. We used the already existing Dundee Jewellers Collective Instagram profile as the online hub to collate and share all information leading up to the event.
Islay took on the map design, combining her love of graphic design and local knowledge. Growing up in Dundee, she had a strong sense of what details would help people navigate and what landmarks to highlight. Designing the map ourselves turned out to be a huge advantage as we could keep it flexible, update details as plans evolved, and make it something that felt handmade and personal.
We decided to prioritise a print edition of the map rather than an online version, because as well as making a beautiful piece of art for people to keep, it directly supported local business and kept the money in the city. The map and posters were printed by fellow Amps supporter Luke Cassidy Greer of Yalla Riso and were really well received, leading people round the city, with a place to collect a stamp at each studio, becoming a memento of the event and a list of local jewellers for future use.
We distributed the maps with the help of DCA, V&A Dundee and The McManus as our three main pick-up points, as well as independent shops, coffee shops and libraries. Our participants took maps to markets and gave them to customers which helped spread the word further, and we promoted the event through social media and events listings such as Craft Scotland and Dundee What’s On websites.
We wrote press releases and managed to get some good local coverage which really helped get the word out – and we learned that a good press photo really helps this! Big thanks to Kristin Beeler for taking our photo, and to Jilly Noble for the atmospheric shots of our opening night.
Over the two weekends, visitors could experience first-hand how jewellery is made, ask questions to the makers, and try on and buy jewellery. Demos, workshops and talks were held, from traditional Japanese metalwork techniques to making new materials for jewellery out of ground coffee beans.
Our visitors were wonderfully diverse, from curious locals and art students to people travelling from Aberdeen, Fife, Angus and Perthshire. Many students from DJCAD’s jewellery course came along, eager to learn more and expand their understanding of professional practice.
We were very pleased to meet some visitors making it their mission to see every single studio, proudly showing us their fully stamped maps after completing the full tour. Others commented on how strikingly different each space was and how it deepened their appreciation for the craft and its materials.
We already have a strong network here through the Dundee Jewellers Collective – but bringing everyone together under one event revealed new links and formed new connections.
“One of the lovely things that was discovered by bringing together a collection of jewellers at my venue,” Katie said, “was that one of them had actually been taught by another years ago, which nicely rounded the circle that everyone taking part was either a DJCAD graduate or had been trained by one.”
That sense of connection ran through the whole event, with faces being put to names, new working relationships being formed, plans for collaboration and skill sharing made, and customers being introduced to how their jewellery is designed and made.
“I loved meeting the jewellery students and other makers that visited – their enthusiasm for the subject was infectious” said Islay; “It’s important to be able to form these connections within the industry as it’s such a broad subject the need to outsource certain techniques and know who can do them becomes an essential part of the job as a jewellery designer”
We also partnered with digital content creator Blessing Afolayan to give our audience a taster of what they might experience. Blessing was selected for her innovative content and understanding of fashion and style in both Dundee and London, and as a young fresh eye on what we were building.
She created three Instagram story sets that helped people understand that they were at the right venue, and explored the customer journey to find us in parts of Dundee that visitors might not have explored or known about. She also shared a sneak preview of the variety of venues, styles of jewellery and materials explored contributing to creating excitement to motivate people to visit.
As this was our first time working with a content creator, it was really valuable to get a viewpoint of a visitor perspective. Although all of the jewellers involved understand the importance of the visibility and connection that social media offers, we predominately prefer making to marketing; we are often so dedicated to and engrossed in our creative practice that an overview of how that looks from the outside is not always attainable. It was interesting to see what attracted the focus and interest of Blessing, and potentially others like her, who are curious about our hidden world of jewellery making. It was great to work with someone who could intuitively pick up our vision in a short time frame.
Our aims were to:
We’re happy to say we achieved all of these in some way. Between us we sold work, received commissions, ran workshops, and built valuable new connections with customers and other makers. The curiosity people showed reminded us why we love what we do. Jewellery is such a natural connector, carrying stories and meaning in ways that open conversation.
We also learned a lot about the practical side of running a city-wide event. For example, we initially focused on distributing maps through the city’s cultural institutions as these have wide audiences, including visitors to the city, and provided prestige to Dundee Open Studios as a cultural event. This provided a level of endorsement to approach a variety of independent venues that shared our common values.
Local connections are central to our long-term viability – therefore it seemed natural to want to align with other small independent businesses, coffee shops and community spaces. There were places that we knew would provide excellent word of mouth marketing and promotion, and these personal recommendations were actually more effective, though it did involve a lot more leg work. Placing maps in local favourites and university spaces like the Creative Hub helped us reach a wider mix of people and strengthen ties with local businesses.
If working with influencers on future promotional marketing, it would be advantageous to provide a comprehensive brief with a list of key values to be communicated and key objects and locations to highlight. However, having this as organic and just an honest response to being in our spaces and seeing our work for the first time gave an authenticity to her content.
Given that it was at the end of our marketing budget and funds were limited, we were grateful that Blessing was able to schedule us in and was happy to take part payment in kind, in the form of a silver ring making experience in the Orangery, which was later set with a Pink Tourmaline – a nod to our Pink Diamond motif physically placed as signage at each venue and on the map.
The interactive element of collecting a different gem stamp at each venue was very successful and made the map into a creative passport of venues visited. We were suitably impressed with people’s engagement with collecting stamps and it provided a fun way to initiate conversations with visitors about which venues they had seen or could visit.
We collected lots of lovely feedback from visitors:
“It’s lovely to spend a day wandering about Dundee finding new local jewellers. I hope I can come back next year.” – Ruben
“Interesting, lovely place with lots of characters and ideas floating about. Would love to come for workshops someday! Thank you for opening your doors!” – Ineta
“A wonderful event, we very much enjoyed talking to all the artists.” – Kasia
It was fortunate that Josephine Chanter, the deputy director of London’s Design Museum, was also visiting Dundee and visited some of the venues. With over 20 years experience in communication and audiences and an international understanding of design and contemporary craft, it was really valuable to have Josephine experience our Open Studios and continue championing the creativity in Dundee on her return to London. As well as providing lovely creative chats and connecting with Dundee designers in fun-filled venues, she also has a lasting directory of us by treasuring the iconic Riso-print map. Josephine’s attendance contributed to our aim for Open Studios to be part of Dundee’s story, building its reputation as a cultural destination with creative hubs making it the vibrant city that we want it to be.
There’s already a strong appetite to do it again. The jewellers who took part are keen, and the feedback shows that visitors would love to see it expand to include other disciplines too.
Of course, that would make it a much bigger organisational task. We now understand how much work it takes to coordinate even a small-scale Open Studios and how difficult it would be to manage something larger alongside our own businesses. For it to grow sustainably, it would need a broader team or organisational support, perhaps through a charity, CIC or an existing group like Creative Dundee, along with funding from local businesses or sponsors.
We’d be very happy to share what we’ve learned. We’ve kept everything, from participant info and venue lists to distribution records and promotional notes for whoever wants to take the next steps. We’d love to see this project evolve and continue – perhaps it could be a different group of makers that organise the next one for their discipline? Perhaps we could build a committee of makers and artists from each discipline to organise something bigger? We’d love to keep the conversation going!
Keep in touch with Dundee Jewellers Collective on Instagram.
The Community Ideas Fund is made possible thanks to our Amps network. Each year, approximately 50% of everyone’s subscription helps fund an exciting new collaboration that benefits Dundee. New supporters are always welcome – join Amps and help make Dundee even better, and find out more about the 2026 Community Ideas Fund!
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