Key players from Scotland’s crafts industry will gather in Dundee for the inaugural Inches Carr Scottish Craft Awards on Wednesday 23 March hosted by The University of Dundee at Apex City Quay Hotel to celebrate new and innovative work being produced by graduates of Scotland’s art and design schools.
Established in 2016 by the Inches Carr Trust, the Graduate Craft Awards are to encourage recent graduates to advance their skills and knowledge within the craft field, with development work to be undertaken in or associated with Scotland.
Applications were invited from graduates of Scotland’s five internationally renowned art and design institutions, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee, Edinburgh College of Art, Glasgow School of Art, Gray’s School of Art and Heriot Watt University School of Textiles & Design.
The awards, hosted by Harris Tweed Hebrides Creative Director, Mark Hogarth will showcase the work of 10 finalists working in the disciplines of silversmithing, textile design, enamelling, glassblowing and jewellery design. These finalists are; Elizabeth Campbell, Harry Morgan, Hazel Thorn, Karolina Baines, Lucy Simpson, Juli Bolanos-Durman, Karen Westland, Min Zhong, Mirka Janeckova and Sayoko Kobayashi.
Sayoko Kobayashi in her studio
Four winners will be presented with a 2016 Inches Carr Graduate Craft Award each to the value of £2500 at a ceremony dinner attended by leading professionals within the fields of art, craft and design. All 10 designers are invited to exhibit their work at the 2017 Scottish Craft Awards.
Robin Blair, Chair of the Inches Carr Trust said: “We hope that these new awards will be an encouragement to the many marvellously creative graduates who come out of the Scottish Art and Design Colleges.”
The Graduate Craft Awards are the most recent addition to the bursaries and awards available through the Inches Carr Trust. The Trust was set up to commemorate Deirdre Inches and Malcolm Carr, who were both involved in the jewellery and silver field, and who both died in their forties. Deirdre was a pianist with a keen interest in design, in particular, the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while Malcolm was an expert in antique jewellery and cameos.
Entries for the 2017 Inches Carr Scottish Craft Awards are open for submission from November with a closing date of 6th January 2017 at inchescarr.org.uk.