Door's Open: Keli Mitchell on supporting new Scottish designers

Keli Mitchell is hopeful. Having been around the block in the design industry, she’s well aware of the pressure and precarity that come with working in the arts. She knows things are looking a bit bleak out there, especially for those just starting out. But still, she’s hopeful.

Mitchell is a partner at O Street, a multidisciplinary creative studio in Glasgow’s West End, which has stood as a mountain in Scotland’s design landscape for the last 17 years. Their footprints are everywhere, from the big screen of Glasgow Film Festival’s identity, right down to the little RBS fiver in your pocket. On top of all that talent, as Keli says herself, “they're just really nice people, invested in creativity and craft and community and collaboration.” She pauses. “Boutique is a wanky word, but it’s a lovely little space where we get to play and make work.”

In November, Mitchell spoke at a design event. The final question came from a student, honest and frustrated. “How do we get into the industry? We can't. We're all graduating. We're scared. We can't even get any job, let alone a job in the industry.” 

“It kept me awake that night,” Mitchell confesses, noting it’s all very well to sit in our design echo chamber, moaning about this and that, “when actually there's a bunch of people that are going to be shaping our industry behind us that feel lost here.” She realised she needed to take action. Unable to offer the ideal solution – getting every student and grad a job – she set up Open Door: “The next best thing was basically opening the door and inviting people in, sitting them down and giving them time and access. Listening, empathising, helping.

“Scotland's always punched above its weight creatively,” Mitchell notes, while recognising “it's the responsibility of the people in our industry to be on the lookout for the next stage, for the next generation. And we have to take that responsibility quite seriously, because they're going to be in our seats. We have to train the next punchers.” For her, that responsibility starts close to home. “The best demonstration of community is just being a neighbour – opening your door and seeing people in.”

Which put the O Street team to work, dedicating one day a month of studio time to delivering an organic, flexible session for anyone looking for some insight into the industry. And it’s not just students: “It doesn't matter if you're a graduate or someone returning after mat leave or someone changing their career path entirely.” A quick social media post was made, explaining the initiative, and they were inundated with over 100 inquiries for the first session. The inbox avalanche only galvanised Mitchell: “I was a bit like, shit, what have I started? But actually, it was reassuring, because it's like, right, well, this is clearly needed. If I’d had three people, I'd be thinking, actually, the problem's not as big as I think it is.”

Initially, Mitchell planned for the sessions to focus on hiring insight and portfolio reviews, but she found the real spark came from the participants. Although strangers initially, she noticed a natural shift as the sessions began to direct themselves, with participants discussing their practices, their challenges – listening to each other. This listening turned to sharing, and the energy has been palpable. “They are as invested in making brilliant work as we've always ever been. Regardless of whether they feel hopeless about the job market, there is certainly no sense of creative apathy. They love it. It's in their bones, in their blood. There's certainly no, ‘oh, well, you know, I don't even know if I want to do this anymore.’ The creative fire is still burning. Brightly, actually.”

“I think their confidence comes from a place of rebellion. When I started out, I was blindly naive and hopeful. They're more selective. One of the things that I said to them was ‘find a studio or an agency that aligns with your values. Don't just take any job’. And they're like, ‘oh, I know’.”

This sense of rebellion, the desire to create in a world which feels like it’s trying so hard to stop us must feed into Mitchell’s hopefulness. Up against myriad obstacles, she’s accepted that she can’t solve it all. “A portfolio review won’t fix the world, but it might spark a change – someone's path might change a little bit.” I ask her what she wants the participants to achieve, and it’s hardly surprising to hear her say “Loosely, I would like everybody to feel hopeful.”

We close off our chat looking forward to the new year, and I tell her about our January issue theme of hots and nots of 2026. She responds with: “Hot: hanging out with other humans IRL and being weird together. Not: slagging off other people’s creative work on LinkedIn. Actually, just LinkedIn in general.”

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To sign up for the next Open Door session, email Keli at opendoor@ostreet.co.uk
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