Baby Boxes design shortlist revealed
09 December 2016
The students shortlisted to design Scotland’s first ever Baby Box have been revealed today (Friday 9 December) by V&A Museum of Design Dundee.
Over 70 applications were received for the design competition from across Scotland, with university and college students asked to create a beautiful, inspiring design for the outside of the Baby Box.
The competition also asked students to design a way for families to interact with the pattern on the Baby Box, by customising it to record key stages in a baby’s first year such as date of birth or weight, and perhaps include space for their hand or footprint.
The shortlisted designers are:
Monika Stachowiak, North East Scotland College
Ruth Hamilton, Edinburgh College of Art
Grace Brown, North East Scotland College
Marwa Ebrahim, Glasgow School of Art
Lena Sakura, Edinburgh CollegeLeanne Young, Edinburgh Napier University
Mark McDonald MSP, Minister for Childcare and Early Years, said: “I am absolutely delighted that this competition to design Scotland’s Baby Box has captured the imagination and fired the creativity of so many young designers. The quality of all the entries received has been highly impressive.
“The shortlist announced today is packed with the very best of all this creative talent and I look forward to working with my fellow panel members to pick the winning design. The winner will not only see their idea rolled out on every box for every baby and family in Scotland but will also receive exclusive mentoring from leading Scottish designers and a prize of £1,000.
“We want Scotland’s Baby Boxes to become a key and enduring part of the lives of parents and children, so the design needs to be bold and inspirational. The designs we have seen so far definitely achieve this and I congratulate and thank all the entrants for taking part.”
V&A Dundee is running the national competition on behalf of the Scottish Government. The new museum, which opens in 2018, has been working in communities across Scotland since 2014.
Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, said: “Scotland’s college and university students have proved through this competition how creative, thoughtful and skilled they are. The standard of the shortlisted concepts is very high.
“All of the students on our shortlist have interpreted the design brief very well, and they have all looked at how designing something apparently simple like a surface pattern can encourage families to record the major milestones in a baby’s life – and to encourage their own creativity through filling in parts of the Baby Box pattern.
“I look forward to seeing how the students respond to the judges’ feedback for their final designs, which will be revealed to the public early in 2017.”
The shortlisted students will now receive feedback from the expert judging panel to develop a final submission for mid-January.
The panel will then pick a winning student who will receive a prize of £1,000 and exclusive mentoring from leading Scottish designers Holly Fulton and Scott Jarvie.
The programme will be rolled out nationally from summer 2017, with every newborn baby across the country receiving a Baby Box full of clothes, bedding, books and mother and baby care items.
The winning design will be put into production and rolled out on every Baby Box from summer 2017 until March 31 2019.
With a mission to enrich lives through design, V&A Dundee aims to nurture and promote Scotland’s design industry and provide opportunities and support to people of all ages to get involved with and benefit from design.
Working with students at colleges and universities in Scotland is an essential part of this. By providing access to support and expertise from some of the most successful Scottish designers, V&A Dundee aims to help further the careers and ambitions of the next generation of designers.
