Makers’ Meetings around Brixton
04 Jun 2011 4 Comments
in technology Tags: Makerhood
I’ve been spending time recently helping out at Makerhood. Makerhood is a social enterprise run by unpaid volunteers that aims to support local makers, share creativity and skills, and help build a sustainable local economy.
In the next few weeks we will be launching a pilot website, Makerhood Brixton, to help people in Brixton and neighbouring areas buy locally produced goods and find out about local courses on making and growing things.
So if you make things and live or work around Brixton, Herne Hill, Stockwell, Camberwell or Dulwich, come along to one of our Makers’ Meetings in the next couple of weeks. You will get the chance to meet the team behind the project, play around with the test site, and find out more about how the scheme will work.
Grow your own frock
03 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in technology Tags: bacteria, cellulose
Well, not quite. Not yet, anyway.
But Suzanne Lee at Central St Martins, along with collaborators at Imperial College London, is cultivating bacteria in baths of yeast and sweetened green tea. As the bacteria grow, they produce cellulose, which forms a thick mat over two to three weeks. When dried off, this material can be cut into shapes and sewn into garments, or moulded to fit a 3D form such as a mannequin.
Advantages: It dyes more easily than cotton and is biodegradable.
Disadvantages: It’s not easy to get a consistent quality of material at the moment. And it’s not water resistant. In fact, it absorbs about 100 times its own weight in liquid. If you get caught in the rain wearing a bacterial cellulose garment, it will get really heavy, swell and probably fall apart. Best keep a plastic mac handy.
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