Greyfriars Bobby: A Tale of Design Discovery

Nearly every summer of my childhood my family and I travelled to Scotland to visit my grandparents. The whole experience seemed magical to me and certainly made a great impression on me. Packing up clothes and toys and leaving for the airport, only to be transported up in to the sky high above my hometown in to a mysterious cloudy heaven and then hours later landing in a new country

Everything about Scotland was dramatically different from what I was accustomed to. Everything seemed to have an air of magic and mystery. One object in particular stood out to me more than anything else. It was a statue of a small black dog known as Greyfriars Bobby. He sat proudly in the middle of a busy Edinburgh street.

My father had told me stories about the lovable little terrier that guarded his masters grave in Greyfriars Kirk for fourteen years until the dog was buried next to his master. Upon seeing the statue, I instantly recognized the likeness.

I was instantly drawn to the statue because of the cute terrier perched atop it. Many of the statues and sculptures I had seen were very tall and foreboding and often referenced historical events I had never heard of; however, this particular statue felt so much more accessible.

photo via edinphoto.org.uk

What caused me to see the statue as a design object were the two water fountains attached to the statue's base—a higher one for humans and a lower one for dogs. The concept of a dog-sized drinking fountain as part of the statue honoring the loyal terrier struck me as remarkable and caused me to consider who would come up with such a clever idea. I appreciated the multi-functionality of this design—not only was it a aesthetically pleasing art object that improved the look of the city, but also functioned as a water fountain for both humans and dogs, and served to commemorate Bobby's loyalty. This was one of my first memories of thinking critically about design and realizing design's impact on society.

This little statue exemplified for me how a single object could convey a wealth of emotions and information and despite being on public display, seemed to speak just to me.