Panel, the organisation behind this year’s hugely successful project and exhibition The Inventors of Tradition, today announced their newest project, Scotland Can Make It!, with a nation-wide call out for proposals.

Initiated by Creative Scotland and inspired by London 2012 and Glasgow 2014, Scotland Can Make It! aims to celebrate Scottish creativity and stimulate the relationship between the country’s creative and manufacturing sectors. Against the backdrop of these two major sporting events, Scotland Can Make It! will present six new, limited edition souvenirs, designed and manufactured entirely in Scotland and leaving a lasting material legacy from Scotland’s dynamic and imaginative cultural landscape.

The project has been designed to enable relationships and collaborations between Scotland’s creative practitioners and our manufacturing industries. As the name suggests, all the souvenirs will be produced in Scotland and applicants are asked to suggest a manufacturing company they could work with. The six winning entrants will each work closely with Panel on the research and development of their designs. Each successful commission will receive a £1000 fee and a maximum budget of around £2000 will be allocated to the development and production of each souvenir prototype.

Scotland Can Make It! is not just open to designers and makers: music, textiles, accessories, books, stationery, clothing, prints and homewares are amongst the types of work the organisers would be interested in seeing submissions for, and proposals for inter-disciplinary collaborations involving writers, musicians, visual artists and designers are particularly welcome. Application packs can be downloaded at www.scotlandcanmakeit.com  from Monday 6 June 2011, when the project will formally launch. Submissions are invited from established and emerging creative practitioners and will be judged by a panel of creative practitioners and industry experts, including current Turner Prize nominee Martin Boyce, leading design retailer Sheridan Coakley, Christina Jansen (Curator, The Scottish Gallery), and Creative Scotland’s Leonie Bell (Creative Programmer: London 2012 and Glasgow 2014). All submissions must be received by 5pm on Monday 25 July.

In 2012, an exhibition featuring the souvenir prototypes and a behind-the-scenes look at all the design and manufacturing processes involved to date will tour Scotland.

Caroline Parkinson, Director of Creative Development, Creative Scotland, said:

‘This is a great opportunity to create something that connects to, but lasts beyond, the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, by establishing exciting new relationships between the country’s talented creative and manufacturing industries.’

Source: K Innes