BA(Hons) Interior Design; PG Cert in Learning & Teaching
After graduating in 2000 with a BA (Hons) in interior design, Melba moved to Dublin mid Celtic Tiger, where the construction boom lead to a thriving interior design industry, attracting a vibrant international design community.
She worked for several practices whilst living in Dublin with a broad spectrum of project type. She began learning about commercial design at Douglas Wallace Architects, with her first clients being Brown Thomas Department Store, Clerys Department Store and Ogilvy and Maher Advertising Agency. Following this she worked for Exhibit Design Group, working on the design of exhibition stands for Bord Bia and Bord Iascaigh Mhara.
She then worked on a vast number of restaurants, bars, hotel and nightclub projects in JDDG such as Ely CHQ, Eno Wines and The Crown Moran Hotel.
After moving back to Glasgow in 2007 and her she began to teach interior design and continued to work in the hospitality design sector for Occa Design where her main client was Intercontinental Hotel Group. She took on some freelance projects; Glasgow University sports complex for Nomad RDC and the architectural remodelling of a house in Sussex for Supertonic for Design. She has also designed some small venues under her own practice such as Mccune Smith Café and Opium Restaurant.
Melba’s current research interest is bridging academia and practice via live projects for undergrad interior design students. Melba is evolving methods of setting up and running such projects to maximise client experience and educational quality.
Recent projects include The Goethe Institute which is now complete and Mossedge Village Multipurpose facility which is undergoing further design development by Contagious. We are currently embarking on a new academic/commercial engagement with Citizen M.
