A design-lovers guide to Dundee

A town famous for heroic explorers and comic-book classics is also the home of Scottish design heritage

Dundee has been a hotbed of industriousness and creativity since its early prominence as a 12th-century port. This is a town happy to reclaim the old as well as fashion the new – a place that today combines being a global gaming powerhouse (birthplace of iconic games like Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings) with repurposing 19th-century jute factories as art studios and innovative museums.

The green expanse of Slessor Gardens links the waterfront to a city centre where historic sandstone edifices mingle with new restaurants, bars and sleek hotels, transforming miles of waterfront into a coastal playground ending in the old-fashioned seaside suburb of Broughty Ferry, where a 15th-century castle stands guard over a tiny harbour from where you can take a boat trip to watch the local dolphins.

In the city centre, the lovely red-stoned Courier Building on Albert Square is home to publishers DC Thomson, whose glorious vintage comic book characters like Desperate Dan and the Bash Street Kids delighted generations of kids and adults alike. This witty graphic heritage is celebrated in fabulous bronze statues around the centre.

Must-see

V&A Dundee

The architecturally pioneering V&A Dundee puts the city in the global cultural spotlight, with beautifully curated permanent collections exploring Scotland’s amazing design heritage. Designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, the rock-shard facade takes inspiration from the dramatic sea-cliffs of Scotland’s east coast. Its jutting prow echoes too the sailing ship Discovery moored alongside, launched in Dundee back in 1901 to bear explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott on their epic Antarctic explorations. The new museum celebrates Scottish design in glorious diversity. There’s Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s magnificent Oak Room, contemporary couture from Holly Fulton mingling with 18th-century garters worn by Jacobite-supporting women, and design movements like the Glasgow Style are explored, alongside an array of Scottish inventions. Who knew a Scot invented the kaleidoscope? General entry is free, with charges for special exhibitions.

Verdant Works

Carved from a former jute factory, Verdant Works is a distinctive museum which spins the tale of rich and poor in Dundee during its 19th-century heyday when, as the jute capital of the world, this ancient raw fibre poured into the city from the Indian subcontinent to be woven into sacks and textiles. The shop also stocks the museum’s own award-winning gin. If you’re visiting RRS Discovery too, you can save several pounds by buying a joint ticket covering both attractions. Even better, the ticket gives you entry to both sites for a full year.

Eat

Gallery 48

Gallery 48 is an airy white-walled Westport space which combines the pared-back aesthetic of a contemporary art gallery with succulent tapas, from the classics to less familiar options like tuna belly, olive tapenade and artichoke, or Catalan spinach with pine nuts and raisins.

Stay

Malmaison Dundee

This 91-room outpost of the luxury boutique Malmaison hotel chain boasts a great central location just a hop from the V&A, plus some of the city’s best eating and drinking spots. Lush velvets mix with contemporary lighting, while Dundee’s comic-book heritage is celebrated by visual nods to legendary Beano characters.

WORDS: NORMAN MILLER