Dundee Design Festival have opened the call for entries to its first residency programme, pairing designers with factories across Scotland. The Dundee Design Festival, which celebrates world-class design, is due to take place 25 – 29 May.

This year Dundee Design Festival have partnered with Make Works – the open access directory of fabricators, material suppliers, workshops and manufacturers in Scotland – to deliver an exciting new residency programme.

The team behind the festival have launched an open call for three designers to be paired with a Scotland-based manufacturer over six months. The residency will allow designers time and space with specialist fabricators to test new ideas, improvise with materials and experiment with different production techniques.

Scotland’s designers are busy blending forms of production, mixing the very old with the very new. Dundee Design Festival’s Factory Residency Programme will find alternative ways for designers to access and work with existing Scotland-based manufacturers so that together they can begin to
re-imagine the possibilities of their methods, materials and machines.

Designers will be asked to share their work-in progress plus their ambitions for the rest of the programme during the Dundee Design Festival at the end of May. An exhibition will combine and communicate the outcomes of each collaboration in Autumn 2017, with details to be announced nearer the time.

The open call seeks designers at any stage in their career with a willingness to test their limits. Applications are welcome from designers working in (though not limited to) the following areas: ceramics, glass, jewellery, fashion, textiles, interiors, surface and product design.

Eligibility

• Dundee Design Festival Factory Residency Programme is only open to designers who live in Scotland and are eligible to work in the UK.
• The Programme is open to all designers who have been working professionally, either paid or voluntarily, in some form of design practice for
  at least one year.
• Applications can be submitted on behalf of design collectives/studios as well as individual designers.
• Applications form undergraduate or postgraduate students currently enrolled on a degree course will not be accepted.
• Only one application will be accepted per designer(s).
• Only applications submitted online will be considered.

How to apply

The closing date for submissions is 5pm, Monday 3 March. Entries received after this deadline will not be accepted.

Designers must provide:

• A completed application form
• A written proposal (200 words) on the theme of ‘factory floor’;
• Links for up to four supporting images.
• Applications must be made online by completing a Google Form which can be accessed by clicking here or via dundeedesignfestival.com.
• Please direct any queries about the application process to contact@dundeedesignfestival.com.

Three designers will be selected by a panel represented by Make Works, Old School Fabrications, and design studio Tom Pigeon.

Successful applicants will be notified via email on Friday 10th March. For further information and full terms and conditions, please click here.