Dezeen School Shows: a prosthetic aid for amputees who have lost a limb below the knee, which comes as a "kid-of-parts" is among the projects from the Glasgow School of Art.

Also featured is a women-only cultural space and a textiles project informed by architecture.

Glasgow School Of Art

Institution: Glasgow School Of Art
School: School of Design
Courses: Textile Design, Communication Design, Interaction Design, Interior Design, Product Design Engineering, Silversmithing and Jewellery
Tutors: Paul Maguire, Catherine Weir, Gillian Moffat, Silvia Weidenbach , Nick Bell, Jo Petty, Cavan McPhearson, Leigh Bagley, Pamela Flanagan, Marco Emilio Di Mario and Anthony Coffield

School statement:

"The Glasgow School of Art's School of Design employs a studio-centric, practice-led methodology across diverse disciplines.

"Programs like Communication Design integrate photography and graphic design with critical theory to explore socio-political and ethical themes. Interaction Design redefines the designer's role by treating digital technology – including sensors, motors and code – as a physical material to explore emotion and personal histories.

"Interior Design focuses on urban regeneration and the social history of spaces, utilising analogue and virtual concepts. Product Design Engineering bridges creative culture with technical engineering to address sustainability and user experience.

"In Silversmithing and Jewellery, students use fine metalworking to create artefacts responding to gender, heritage, and politics. Similarly, Textile Design blends heritage techniques with innovative processes, emphasising environmental responsibility.

"Across all programs, conceptuality is grounded in design history and theory, challenging boundaries through sophisticated critical practice and a focus on the ethical implications of design in the 21st century."

Springburn Bird Conservation Centre by Yurou Liu

"Yurou Liu addresses the decline of UK bird populations with an adaptive reuse proposal for Glasgow's Springburn Winter Gardens.

"Inspired by the urgent need for wider ecological awareness, Liu transforms a Category A listed glasshouse into a multifunctional conservation hub, employing a layered circulation design that balances avian care and living needs with public spaces for visitors and education.

"Yurou's influences stem from long-term monitoring and community engagement of the historic glasshouse, using the site's rich history to create lasting social value through thoughtful interior interventions."

Student: Yurou Liu
Course: Interior Design
Tutors: Pamela Flanagan, Marco Emilio Di Mario and Anthony Coffield

Sonarc by Erin Duffy

"Sonarc is a portable, low-cost ultrasound device designed to improve access to medical imaging in resource-limited settings.

"Through a simplified and repairable system, the project balances usability and durability while addressing a critical global need.

"The project demonstrates a strong focus on functionality and real-world application, showcasing a rigorous, process-driven methodology.

"As an emerging designer, Erin challenges conventional boundaries to propose thoughtful responses to contemporary life, engaging with the world through a sharp sensitivity to materials and a spirit of experimentation aimed at solving pressing global issues."

Student: Erin Duffy
Course: Product Design Engineering
Tutor: Nick Bell

The Fold by Carrie Matossian

"The Fold is a women-centred making and cultural space set within a former entertainment venue on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street.

"Once a place where women were put on display, Carrie reimagines the building to question how and why we see.

"The public galleries celebrate women's craft as a material language, while private workshops create space for making, addressing long-standing gender imbalances.

"At its core, a 12-metre vertical void – The Fold – shapes moments of visibility and concealment.

"Soft, familiar ideas of femininity meet raw industrial materials and sharp forms, creating a space of contrast that challenges how women are represented, experienced and celebrated."

Student: Carrie Matossian
Course: Interior Design
Tutors: Pamela Flanagan, Marco Emilio Di Mario and Anthony Coffield

Solas anns an Sgàil by Lily Roberts

"Lily Roberts captures the atmosphere of Scottish pub culture in Solas anns an Sgàil ('light in the shade' in Scottish Gaelic).

"Drawing from her background as a bartender, Roberts uses the concept of "Chiascuro" – the use of intense contrasting dark and light – to embody the atmosphere of local bars.

"Her material palette of polished nickel-silver and vibrant red reflects the cosy energy of low-lit social spaces.

"Lily's functional pieces invite engagement, discussion and playfulness, celebrating the range of emotions and interactions encountered on a night in a pub."

Student: Lily Roberts
Course: Silversmithing and Jewellery
Tutor: Silvia Weidenbach

Weaponisation by Willow Glendenning

"Weaponisation subverts the aesthetics of consumerism to critique the global arms trade.

"Inspired by Cold War political graphics and modern data gathered by the Campaign Against Arms Trade, Willow disguises lethal weaponry within playful toy catalogue imagery.

"Her methods include screen printing and digital posters, employing a bold visual language reminiscent of 1950s Pop Art and Indian firework displays.

"By integrating motifs of dollar signs and explosions, Willow highlights the economic role of Western powers in conflict, using communication design, through screen prints and digital posters, as a sharp tool for sociopolitical commentary."

Student: Willow Glendenning
Course: Communication Design
Tutor: Jo Petty

Liminal Skins by Meraud Pengelly

"Meraud Pengelly's 'Liminal Skins' collection navigates the uncanny threshold where the natural collides with the manufactured.

"Drawing inspiration from French philosopher Foucault's 'panopticon' metaphor, and animal observatory boxes, the collection explores the body as a site of digital observation, dominance, and containment.

"Meraud cleverly juxtaposes the tactile warmth of felted sheep's wool with rigid, sculptural fluorescent acrylic forms in a craft process which subverts traditional garment construction.

"This creates a provocative "armour" that functions as both a protective enclosure and a transparent display, blurring the boundaries between body and structure, vulnerability and resistance, containment and autonomy.

Student: Meraud Pengelly
Course: Fashion Design
Tutor: Cavan McPhearson

A Memory of a Fragile Archive by Mikhail Nikolaev

"Mikhail Nikolaev's interactive installation operates as a digital bulwark against cultural erasure in Ukraine.

"Using photogrammetry and 3D real-time game engines, Mikhail preserves cultural artefacts threatened by war, rendering these digital archives physical through 3D-printing, and coating them in conductive paint to create a tactile interface that allows visitors to experience them in a physical form.

"Influenced by the resilience of the Ukrainian population, the project balances the destructive reality of conflict with the hopeful preservation of heritage through cutting-edge interactive design and audio-visual storytelling."

Student: Mikhail Nikolaev
Course: Interaction Design
Tutors: Paul Maguire, Catherine Weir and Gillian Moffat

Iomrall by Christie Shannon

"Christie Shannon investigates the overlooked geometry of everyday life in her collection Iomrall (the Gaelic word for wandering/aberration).

"Her process involves extracting linear details from urban architecture – such as staircases and railings – and translating them into versatile knitted textiles.

"Working with high-quality natural fibres like wool and cotton, Shannon adopts a playful, process-led methodology to develop reversible fabrics.

"Directly influenced by the intersection of fashion and interior design, her multifunctional pieces emphasise depth and texture, creating contemporary textiles that can function seamlessly as garments or interior accessories."

Student: Christie Shannon
Course: Textile Design
Tutor: Leigh Bagley

Together by Sophie Izard

"The kitchen table is the centre around which most homes turn, a place to gather, eat, talk and laugh, yet it is increasingly disrupted by objects and distractions that pull us away from the community of the table.

"Sophie's collection celebrates the daily ritual of sitting and eating together. Designed for everyday use, not "kept for best", these pieces become containers for memory and recollection.

"Inspired by ordinary kitchen equipment, they offer multiple functions, holding tea lights, candles or flowers, creating subtle visual variation during meals and throughout the day, marking the rhythms of daily life."

Student: Sophie Izard
Course: Silversmithing and Jewellery
Tutor: Silvia Weidenbach

Pace by Millie Spence

"The Prosthetic Aid for Conflict Environment (Pace) project is a kit-of-parts prosthetic aid for below-the-knee amputees in displacement camps within conflict zones, providing temporary mobility where prosthetic care is unavailable.

"It responds to the growing number of amputees lacking devices and trained clinicians, where loss of mobility restricts access to food, water and life-saving aid.

"Delivered as a self-assembly kit, Pace enables independent assembly and fitting, using particle jamming to create an adaptive, load-bearing interface without specialist equipment."

Student: Millie Spence
Course: Product Design Engineering
Tutor: Nick Bell

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Glasgow School of Art. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.