Lossiemouth High pupil's tartan design hits the looms at Johnstons of Elgin
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A TARTAN designed by a Moray school pupil is being woven on the looms of a luxury textile mill.
Lossiemouth High's Emma McCann visited Johnstons of Elgin to see her brightly-coloured fabric coming off the looms.
The S1 pupil was chosen as the winner of a design competition, run by Moray Council and the Confucius Institute for Scottish Schools (CISS) in partnership with the famous Elgin mill.
Emma's tartan, which combines the colours of the Scottish and Chinese flags along with the CISS colours, will be officially launched at the Scottish Parliament in June.
The competition was open to local schools where Mandarin is taught by the area's resident exchange teacher, Miss Fang, and attracted entries from five schools and a nursery.
Among its aims was to showcase how language skills can be invaluable for young people as they move from the classroom into the workplace.
The project was initiated after Moray Council education officer Willem Smit undertook an educational visit to China with other officers and headteachers from across Scotland.
He said: "A wide variety of designs were submitted, both hand-coloured and computer generated, and showed a lot of creativity and flair.
"The judging panel found it difficult to decide on the winning design but finally awarded first place to Emma, whose tartan design married the colours together well in a bright pattern which would be popular in China today."
Ahead of the official launch, Emma and four classmates will return to the mill to work with design director Laura Garner on the finished tartan as part of the Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) curricular experience. An initial run of 400 scarves will then be woven.
Mr Smit said: "The project is testament to how Moray young people, their teachers and local businesses like Johnstons can work together to bridge cultural and international gaps for the common good of all concerned."
Emma was among a group of Lossiemouth High S1 and S2 pupils who worked on their designs over lunch times in the run-up to the competition deadline.
The whole group joined Emma at the mill, learning about the processes needed to create garments for sale on the world-wide market – from sourcing raw materials, logistics and manufacture to design, marketing and sales.
Fiona Shearer, the school's principal teacher of art and design, said: "It was an extra special experience for Emma to see her very own design actually being woven before her eyes and was a great opportunity for us all to see the whole design process in action and to such a professional finish. We all left with a far greater appreciation of the level of skill and work involved in the design and manufacturing process and we all thoroughly enjoyed experiencing it."
Jim Morris, learning and development manager at Johnstons, said the initiative complemented the company's Schools Interaction Programme, which helps young people develop skills for work while gaining a better understanding of the company.
Funding came from the CISS, with support from its professional development officer Meryl James.
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