Final shortlist for Scotland’s Baby Box design
23 January 2017
The final six designs for Scotland’s Baby Box have been revealed today by the Minister for Childcare and Early Years, Mark McDonald.
He unveiled the shortlist during a visit to the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design where he was joined by the finalists and judges as the designs were made public for the first time.
The shortlist is extremely varied, from woodland creatures and the Loch Ness monster to buses and famous Scottish symbols, but each one is intended to be interactive, helping to record milestones and make memories.
Mr McDonald said:
“This competition has absolutely captured the imagination and creativity of young designers throughout the country and I am extremely impressed by the exceptionally high quality of all the entries we received.
“It was a difficult task but the judging panel managed to narrow the submissions down to the final six I have unveiled today. One of these designers will not only receive exclusive mentoring from leading Scottish designers Scott Jarvie and Holly Fulton as well as a prize of £1,000 but will see their idea rolled out on every box, for every baby in Scotland, once they launch nationwide this Summer.
“The Baby Box is a simple idea with a proven track record in tackling deprivation, improving health and supporting parents, and I’m extremely pleased we are now another step closer to introducing it throughout Scotland. It is a fantastic initiative that will play a major role in realising our wider government ambition of giving all children the best possible start in life and I look forward to working with my fellow panel members to ensure the box itself has the best possible design.”
V&A Museum of Design Dundee is running the national competition on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, said:
“Scotland’s Baby Box is a fantastic initiative, helping to give newly-born children across the country an equal start in life.
“Over the winter our shortlisted Baby Box designers have been working hard to develop their designs based on feedback from our expert judges. We have all been very impressed with the creativity and professionalism of the final submissions. Selecting a winner will not be easy!
“Part of the project is that the winner of the competition will continue to have mentoring support from judges Holly Fulton and Scott Jarvie, two of Scotland’s most talented designers. We hope this will be a fantastic support to the winner as they themselves set out on their own professional career.”
Background
The designs are available to view here.
The panel will pick the winning student who will receive a prize of £1,000 and exclusive mentoring from leading Scottish designers Holly Fulton and Scott Jarvie.
The winning design will be put into production and rolled out on every Baby Box from Summer 2017 until March 31 2019.
The shortlisted designers are:
Grace Brown, North East Scotland College
Marwa Ebrahim, Glasgow School of Art
Ruth Hamilton, Edinburgh College of Art
Lena Sakura, Edinburgh College
Monika Stachowiak, North East Scotland College
Leanne Young, Edinburgh Napier University
The shortlisted students were picked in December and received feedback from the expert judging panel to develop a final submission for mid-January.
