Micklethwaite, P., O'Connor, K., Elliott, S., 2019.

Market as Manufactory. Making Communities

Manufactory (www.manufactory.works) was a live making event during London Design Festival 2017 at Old Spitalfields Market, London. Designers from Kingston School of Art turned market stalls into making spaces, transforming materials and stories from the Market into new 'produce'. Student, staff and graduate designers paired with local communities, schools and businesses, using repurposed stalls as bespoke on-site production facilities. Manufactory explored the value of short-term, place-specific design interventions for an urban market seeking to re-establish a culture of creativity and craft on its historic site. This paper considers Manufactory as (1) a learning space an exploring offsite extra-curricular learning and teaching; (2) a makerspace trialling a wide range of experimental modes of making; (3) a catalyst to reinvigorate the creative capacity of the project partner; (4) a community of practice generating insights into the ethics of participation between designers and non-designers.