The talents of creative Angus youngsters have been hailed by one of the world’s leading car designers.
In a flying weekend Angus visit, Jaguar design chief Ian Callum praised the efforts of prize winners in a competition to produce an eye-catching logo for May’s Angus Marafun, organised by Forfar Rotary Club.
Through a childhood connection with Marafun committee member Gordon Peterkin, Mr Callum agreed to judge the logo competition and within hours of touching down following Jaguar’s outstanding success at last week’s Geneva Motor Show he was at the premises of Forfar print and design firm Astute (Scotland) Ltd to congratulate the young winners.
Mr Callum whose award-winning career has brought cars ranging from the Ford Escort Cosworth and Aston Martin DB7 to Jaguar’s current sensation, the F-type thrilled the youngsters with a talk about his role, and encouraged them to consider a design career.
“If you look around, the idea of creative art and design is really picking up speed,” he said.
“Creativity is coming to the forefront of this country, there is a great big future in it and I can see here that all of you have very creative minds.
“Think about how you want to put that to use as you move forward and perhaps there is a future in design for you as individuals.
“I was always told that if you find a job you love then you never have to work again in your life, you just enjoy doing something that is a pleasure.
He said he was “very impressed” by all of the entries and reserved special praise for the overall winner, Forfar Academy sixth-year pupil Duncan Low, whose design cleverly incorporated the cog of the Rotary International emblem and a footprint for the fun run event around the streets of Forfar on Sunday May 25.
“When I am looking at any piece of design work I’m looking for a story,” said Mr Callum.
“Every one of these entries had a story in it and I thought Duncan’s was particularly good because it also had an element of fun in it, and it is after all a fun run.
“The combination of the footprint and the cog was beautifully balanced and I think you are very talented indeed,” Mr Callum told the 17-year-old.
Also receiving awards at the Astute event were Gemma Fraser, 14, of Arbroath Academy and Arbroath High 13-year-old Hugo Morrow for second and third place respectively in the senior category.
The primary school 1-2-3 line-up was Sureshta Singh, 10, of Glamis primary; McKenzie Sutherland, also 10, from Lochside in Montrose and 11-year-old Nadia Assakali of Strathmartine school.
Mr Callum has also generously agreed to host the senior winners on a trip-of-a-lifetime visit to his design studio later this year.
Forfar Rotary president Scott Ballantyne said: “I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who put their submissions in, and to Ian Callum for being so generous in agreeing to judge the competition and come to Forfar to present the prizes.”
He also thanked Astute for their unstinting support of the Angus Rotary Marafun, with the company putting up £200 vouchers for educational products for the winning primary and secondary schools, as well as the individual cash awards.
Duncan’s entry will now feature on the promotional material for Marafun as excitement builds towards the event and all the winners were given a special momento of their competition success as Astute transferred their designs to mugs in the Orchardbank business park headquarters.
Marafun entries are still open and details of the event can be found at www.forfarrotary.org.uk.