We are delighted to be partnering with Belfast School of Art Shop this year for Belfast Design Week to give 8 emerging makers and designers the opportunity to meet with and get feedback from independent design and retail professionals. Participants will each have a 20 minute one-on-one session with our panel getting rapid feedback, constructive critique and guidance on products or works in progress.
The session aims to offer:
– Rapid, diverse feedback on work
– Insight into industry perspectives
– A chance for conversation and connection within the local design and retail community
Participants should bring a small product, prototype, or visual documentation of their work.
Spaces are limited
To apply for a session with the panel please complete this short application and then we will send you a link to pick a suitable time.
Design and Retail Professionals on the Panel
Celeste Macormac Owens
Retail co-ordinator Belfast School of Art Shop
Celeste Macormac Owens has lived and worked across Australia, Canada, and London, bringing a wealth of international experience to her role as Manager of the Art Shop. Working alongside the Art Shop team and volunteers, Celeste facilitates an extensive program of events, professional practice talks, competitions, and markets, fostering a warm, inclusive, and collaborative environment for students and the wider community.
The Art Shop serves as a supportive hub for art students, encouraging engagement, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and research both locally and with university art shops nationally and internationally. Celeste is passionate about nurturing emerging artists by providing a space where they can begin to commercialise their creative practice in a supportive and vibrant setting.
Rachel McIlgorm
Founder of Storybox, a purpose led business using gifting and creativity as a force for social impact.
Storybox is about more than gifts. We work closely with local makers, social enterprises and small businesses, helping individuals and organisations make more thoughtful and conscious choices through what they buy. From carefully curated gift boxes to large scale corporate gifting, everything we create is rooted in connection, community and doing good.
Alongside gifting, I run the Storybox retail space in Belfast. It’s not a typical shop. It’s a hub where people can discover meaningful products, learn the stories behind them, and connect with the small businesses we champion. It’s also a space for collaboration, conversation and creativity.
We also host creative workshops that bring people together through shared experiences, storytelling and hands on making, while directly supporting local artists and facilitators.
Before starting Storybox, I worked in marketing, business development and product development within the corporate sector, travelling extensively through my roles. Those experiences shaped my belief that business can be both commercially strong and genuinely impactful.
Storybox donates proceeds to local mental health and environmental charities, and we’re passionate about encouraging more conscious, considered ways of shopping and gifting.