David McDiarmid Studio

Find here a fun-filled, food-focussed studio in Glasgow’s East End, producing affordable, handmade artworks and gifts for fellow food lovers and cooking enthusiasts. Bored of the same old, factory manufactured food-themed novelty gifts, I produce carefully crafted, playful products that celebrate the craftsmanship of food producers in a more permanent (displayable) way. Think ceramic pasta fridge magnets made with clay the same way edible pasta is made with dough, or a series of prints produced from original oil paintings of farm-grown fruits and vegetables, or hand crafted drinks coasters and cabinet knobs for your kitchen. I see myself as a frustrated cook turned artist who celebrates the artistry of food production with food-themed art and gifts for fellow food lovers.

The ideas behind my works are fed (sorry) from many different sources including books on the subject of food history covering individual ingredients, developments in cookery, food service, food trends and diets as well as chef biographies, recipes and cookbooks. I’m also an avid watcher of basically any cooking show I can find on TV and keen listener of food-themed podcasts.

Throughout my career I have balanced my creative practice with a series of day jobs including many years spent in hospitality roles most recently as an Assistant General Manager at a popular Mexican restaurant in Glasgow. I tired of this and in attempt to move away from hospitality enrolled in the MLitt Curatorial Practice Course taught between Glasgow School of Art and University of Glasgow in 2017 Little did I know that I would become even more interested in food as subject…!

In 2018, I curated a one-night only pop-up restaurant night run entirely by a team of artists at the former Project Café site in Glasgow featuring both art and food on the menu. In 2019 I launched Artists’ Tuck Shop as a vehicle to support fellow food-loving artists recognising a trend for artists working with food as a subject. Around the same time, I began to explore food as a subject in my own work and launched David McDiarmid Studio to provide unique, handcrafted artworks and gifts for fellow food lovers.