Happy birthday!!!! Hill House

Firstly, I must thank Anne Ellis and The National Trust for Scotland for inviting me here. I have never opened an exhibition before and am honoured to be asked.

It makes me smile to be here because I always expected The National Trust to be immersed in heritage with little thought for contemporary creativity. I never expected The National Trust to so eloquently bridge the gap between the past and the present which they do through this exhibition, “New Perceptions: New Directions”. They have the courage to look to the future in a way Charles Rennie Mackintosh would have been proud of.

Despite having the second oldest and arguably the most distinguished school of design in the world Scotland has only a small design industry and very few places to show contemporary creativity within a national and international context. The perfoming arts and fine arts are well provided for while the Scottish Arts Council perversly fails to recognise architecture and design as ‘artforms’. This is unfortunate as design and architecture are excellent ambassadors for Scotland and the UK because they express culture and have a direct effect on the economy—a point not missed by our present government.

I think it’s great that The National Trust for Scotland has decided on the bold and successful move to include a space for contemporary creativity excellence in an already excellent, creative space created by an internationally recognised Scottish architect and designer. I sincerly hope The Trust continue to develop this example in their other properties.

On behalf of The National Trust for Scotland I would like to thank the European Regional Devolopment Fund, Dunbaronshire Enterprise, Liz Arthur, Bill and Sylvia Potter from Inhouse, David Page from Page and Park, Sir Terence Conran and NTS Studio for their support in making this project possible. I would also like to thank Arata Isosaki for kindly donating his Marilyn chair which pays homage to his love of Mackintosh and to that other 20th Century icon, Marilyn Monroe.

I would personally like to thank Anne Ellis for her tireless energy in supporting design in Scotland when others didn’t or wouldn’t.

I wish you every success with the gallery in the future.