Campaign launches to create 'Support Your City’ icon for Aberdeen

The campaign is being led by Origin Directors and Gray’s School of Art lecturers, Ben Durack and Dan Sutherland, who are working with Gray’s creative unit, Look Again, to deliver the project.

The designers are running a digital campaign and asking members of the public to help design, develop and launch a ‘Support Your City’ badge that will be made from locally collected, recycled and produced waste.

To launch the campaign, Origin is hosting a pop up stall at a climate change event called Growing Together, which takes place at the Barn in Banchory on Saturday 18 March from 10am – 2pm. This interactive event is open to everyone and will include a host of activities led by The Barn, Gray’s School of Art Mobile Art School, One Seed Forward and DeesideCan.  

Origin Director, Ben Durack, explains more: “I’m sure we can all agree that Aberdeen city centre, like other cities across the UK, is facing many challenges. We’re not interested in playing the blame game but are interested in being part of the solution. There are lots of people in the city working hard to make our city centre a vibrant, exciting place to visit. We want to see a city centre that’s a melting pot of ideas - a place to be inspired and where there’s always something happening.

“Alongside our friends at Gray’s Look Again, we want to work with people across the North East to design, develop and launch a “support your city” badge that we can all wear with pride and signal our collective will for change.

“Over the next 2 weeks we want YOU to help us design and shape this. We’ll make the badge from upcycled, locally sourced plastic waste, to ensure that we are not only contributing to the circular economy but also creating an icon to celebrate all our city has to offer.”

As part of the project, the Origin team is hoping to engage the public with a social media campaign via #Originthat and are inviting people to share comments to say what makes them proud to live in Aberdeen and what they’d like to see in the city centre.

Origin Co-Director, Dan Sutherland, added: “We’re looking forward to working with members of the public to create a new icon for the city. What’s special about our project is that we are going to be making the badge in our workshop at RGU and will be recycling materials that are made from locally sourced plastic.

“The project supports the University’s drive to meet the Scottish Government’s target to reduce its waste and increase recycling by 2025 and is part of our campaign to encourage everyone to recycle single-use plastics, so that they can be repurposed and made into high quality products.”

Interns from Gray’s School of Art’s Three Dimensional Design course are supporting the ‘Support Your City’ campaign, which will improve their skills and provide them with work experience.

The ‘Support Your City’ campaign is supported by funding from Aberdeen City Council’s Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery Fund and builds on the success of the Origin plastic recycling hub, that created a ‘one stop shop’ for plastic waste in the city centre before Christmas.

Follow on social @originthat

Image shows Origin founders., Ben Durack (left) and Dan Sutherland (right).