Hidden Art aims for Olympic tender

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games is set to release a tender for giftware for the 2012 games.

The tender, which is due out in the next two months, will sit alongside other licenced merchandise opportunities currently active. These include souvenirs, which has a deadline of 3 July, ceramics and glassware, which runs until 10 July, and jewellery, which closes on 24 July.

Locog has also tendered for home textiles and stationery and print, and more opportunities are expected to roll out later this year.

East London-based not-for-profit organisation Hidden Art, which supports designers and designer-makers, has expressed an interest in tendering for the Olympic Games giftware work.

Dieneke Ferguson, chief executive of Hidden Art, says the group is creating a consortium to bid for the 2012 giftware contract, comprising Ella Doran, Michelle Mason, Anthony Dickens, Black& Blum, Snowden Flood, Margo Selby and Susan Bradley.

Ferguson says the group is currently finalising the list of products it will put forward for the tender, but says it hopes to include a product which involves a collaboration between a designer and pupils from local schools.

Ferguson says, ‘As soon as London won the Olympics I got very excited – I think it can provide a lot of focus and it will boost confidence in the local area.’