Edinburgh is being promoted as a centre of creative excellence by a newly formed network of industry contacts, called Creative Edinburgh. It aims to grow the city’s design and creative sector – already worth £1.5bn.
A steering group comprising representatives from some of the city’s creative businesses, including design consultancies Tayburn Design and Graphic Partners, has been formed to take the development of the group forward. It aims to be “the voice for the industry” in the capital, according to a Creative Edinburgh spokesman.
The thriving Edinburgh creative sector has lacked representation, claim the organisers across design, advertising, publishing, film and digital media. The creative community employs around 21 000 people in 2500 companies.
Initial funding has come from Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian – an economic development agency – the City of Edinburgh Council and Napier University.
Charlene O’Connor, Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian executive director, says: “Creativity and innovation exist in abundance in Edinburgh and are largely responsible for the current vibrancy and confidence of the city. There is significant potential growth in the sector.”
Edinburgh design group Graphic Partners has created the identity for the new network.
“We had to represent creativity in all its diverse forms,” says Graphic Partners design team leader Graham Sturzaker. “It is an area that never stands still, and we were anxious to recreate that sense of movement in the logo. To some, it is a creative spark, to others a paint splat – but it had to encompass all sectors, from radio to photography,” he adds.
The identity goes live at Creative Edinburgh’s launch this week, which features Terence Conran as its guest speaker. Conran has strong links with the city, and is designing a new £80m Ocean Terminal at Leith Docks.
Creative Edinburgh has launched a website (www.creative-edinburgh.com), which will be completed by Graphic Partners over the next few months.
- Industries in this article
