Craft at the House of Commons
Houses of Parliament. Photo: Sophie Mutevelian
Bright and early on 29th November, we hosted a breakfast presentation at the House of Commons in association with APDIG, the Associate Parliamentary Design & Innovation Group.
Our host, Barry Sheerman MP. Photo: Sophie Mutevelian
In the audience at the House of Commons Photo: Sophie Mutevelian
Professor Alexander Seifalian (left) and Matt Durran. Photo: Sophie Mutevelian
Panel Q&A. Photo: Sophie Mutevelian
Audience questions. Photo: Sophie Mutevelian
Our Chair for the morning was Barry Sheerman, MP for Huddersfield, an eloquent and enthusiastic champion for British design, craft and manufacturing.
The event built upon conversations and presentations that started at Watershed in Bristol earlier in the month, where we partnered with ished and the Pervasive Media Studio on a workshop bringing together 40 technologists and 40 makers to explore The Internet of Things. In the words of Clare Reddington, Director of ished, “it’s about working with people who are not like you to share skills and come up with unexpected results.”
Watch the video from the Bristol Internet of Things day here
Back in the House of Commons, Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director, Crafts Council and Clare Reddington gave welcome introductions to the morning, noting the important contributions makers are already making to science and technology. As our world becomes seemingly more virtual, expertise in physical aspects become ever more important. With growing interest in how technology can be embedded in objects, the skill and creativity of makers is essential in the development of entirely new ways of making things.
Presentations followed. Andy Huntington, Interaction Designer discussed ways in which making shapes his thinking in both his own studio and at design consultancy BERG. He described using and thinking about technology as a material, and being a part of communities online which have improved literacy around design and technology. Networks are now maturing and becoming more reliable, opening up wider possibilities. He talked about playing with affordances as a learning process, and the growth of a grassroots movement of open source software enabling new approaches to product development.
Matt Durran, glass maker and artist and Professor Alexander Seifalian, UCL described their extraordinary work in nanotechnology, making “human spare parts” on glass moulds, resulting in the world’s first made-to-measure trachea transplant, as well as noses and ears for cancer patients. This combination of material understanding and medical expertise has only just scratched the surface of possibility, and the possible market potential is enormous.
Naturally the presentations sparked lively discussion, with the panel joined by Tine Bech, visual artist and researcher in interactive/installation art, Lynne Murray, Brand Director, Holition and Kelly Sant, product designer and Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Arts, University of Brighton. Funding for this kind of work was a leading topic – ished has recently been awarded £4.8m of AHRC funding for REACT – an initiative to forge new collaborations between academics and creatives. UCL’s work in nanotechnology is in part funded by the Wellcome Trust, and there is scope to take this work to a wider market. Professor Geoffrey Crossick, Vice-Chancellor, University of London championed the ‘value of ideas’ in an export market and there was a consensus that the UK remains an internationally regarded centre for innovation and creativity and must stay that way.
Stephen Hoskins, University of the West of England, made a point about rejecting silo approaches “It’s about bringing creativity into industries, not just the Creative Industries. The UK is very successful at selling creativity to larger companies too.”
Before Barry Sheerman brought the session to a close, Frank Boyd from the Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network echoed the sentiment that “you can get extraordinary results from bringing people from different backgrounds together.” His role at the Technology Strategy Board is to encourage applications for funding for this way of working – requiring space and time for collaboration, not just a product that creates value in a very short period of time.
The event launched the Crafts Council’s briefing paper, Crafting Capital: New Technologies, New Economies and judging by the amount of card-swapping and conversation taking place in the room and in the corridors of power on the way out, it feels like this is only just the beginning.
Download documents
Crafting Capital: New Technologies, New Economies
Download the Crafts Council’s newly released briefing paper.
Download (629KB Pdf File)
