Chris Dobson & Guy Philips talk the making of Monolith and the joy of Scottish timber

Welcome to DES Talks, a new podcast from Design Exhibition Scotland where Susanna Beaumont celebrates making and creating in a series conversations with designers, craftspeople, makers and artists, who share insights into their working life, delights, influences and ideas. In this episode, Susanna talks to architect Chris Dobson and Guy Philips, founder of Highland Heritage Woodworks who discuss the making of Monolith, a bold beauty of a bench sited in the grounds of Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute. Melding together the brutal honesty of 1970s concrete bus shelters found on the Isle of Lewis and the handcrafted & time honoured Orkney chair, Monolith is a sheltering bench for our contemporary age. Designed by Chris in response to Design Exhibition Scotland's open call to design a park bench in 2022, it was fabricated by the Aberdeenshire based Highland Heritage Woodworks, a pioneering sawmill on the Dunecht estate, west of Aberdeen that celebrates the good use of locally-felled trees. Made of Douglas fir from the Glen Dye estate, the bench is made using CLT, cross laminated timber, a process that both Chris and Guy believe has huge potential to be used more widely. Chris Dobson is an Edinburgh-based architect. He is a director at 3D Reid who are currently working on the renovation of Edinburgh's celebrated store, Jenners. https://www.3dreid.com/project/jenners-edinburgh/Guy Philips is founder and CEO of Highland Heritage Woodworks. Formerly a geologist, he established HHW in 2022 alongside master carpenter, Armands Balams. https://woodworks.scot/Mount Stuart House and grounds on the Isle of Bute are open to the public. This year they are celebrating 25 years of presenting exhibitions, commissions and installations of contemporary art. Monolith is situated to south of the house. https://www.mountstuart.com/Design Exhibition Scotland was founded by Susanna Beaumont in 2018 to celebrate and champion making and creating through podcast, exhibitions, conversations and commissions. https://www.designexhibitionscotland.co.uk/Production Ryan Scott https://www.ryanscottfilm.com/Music Malin https://www.instagram.com/malinlewismusic/