Tuesday 30 August 2011

STUDIO VISIT NO.1 : GROUP DESIGN

Group Design is the name of Hackney based design duo Richard Wells (above right) and Jeremy Schotte (above left). I visited them on a Saturday in July and heard about how they started up, their use of hand and machine and why now is a great time for smaller design practices.

Both Jeremy and Richard maintain full time jobs alongside their work with Group Design. Jeremy works for an architecture practice, “creating bespoke interiors and special bits of furniture.” Meanwhile Richard works for a lighting manufacturer, doing contract lighting, a background that is more, “mass production, functional,” he says.

The pair met at University of Brighton whilst doing a degree in product design. They started Group Design in 2008 out of necessity, “I feel like we didn’t actually have a choice... the desire to make things needed to be sated,” says Jeremy.

“We’d go round shows every year thinking ‘why aren’t we doing this?’ So we got the space here,” Richard adds. The space in question is in Mentmore Studios, near to London Fields, seemingly packed with other makers and designers.

The pair signed up for Tent (a London design show) in 2009 to spur themselves into producing a collection. “From January that year we were like ‘right, we’ve got to get some products’... and that’s really the range we’ve got here,” says Richard. “Some of our items are very geared towards being produced by someone else and then we have some far more labour intensive, like the Library Chair
.”


Jeremy’s parents were antique dealers so he grew up with library chairs. When undertaking a bespoke interior for a kitchen with a high ceiling he realised that the library chair format would work perfectly. When stored it takes on the form of an everyday chair and when ‘in use’ it is a small stepladder, perfect for getting to hard to reach cupboards and shelves.

The chair’s birch plywood aesthetic neatly fits with the form of that kitchen and was originally handmade by a cabinet maker. “It should be renamed as the kitchen top cupboard chair,” says Jeremy, jokingly.


When Group Design moved to Mentmore Studios they started to work with their designs on the CNC machine which provided them with the ability to carve out the design much more quickly. “The CNC dictated some of the design. We looked at how much weight we could remove whilst retaining the strength,” says Richard.

After the CNC machine has done its bit, the pair finish the Libary Chair by hand to create a fine bit of furniture. It is a neat combination of computer and traditional craft. “I developed some jigs to help with the finishing. The process has been refined over several versions. I’ve made various components for chamfering the edges, holding bits in place,” Jeremy adds.

By combining traditional craft with modern technology Group Design manages to compete with established design brands. For Richard, with his background in mass production, this is particularly important, “I wanted to keep that accessibility and use UK manufacturing.”

Along the way they’ve found support from the likes of Metropolitan Works and Hidden Art ‘pretty invaluable’. However, they have found it tough, discovering that there were no grants to aid start-up.

As well as this support, the pair have utilised connections well to get their products into Liberty, amongst other places. Their relationship with Makers, in particular, has helped them concentrate on the design rather than the admin. “We want to gear ourselves towards being designers and start new projects when we can, rather than get bogged down with the admin of existing pieces,” Jeremy told me.

This approach is working well for them so far. Alongside the Library Chair I was also shown their Planar Shelving unit and the 490 Desk Lamp
. The shelving has recently started to be stocked by Liberty.
Richard shows me the 490 Desk Lamp
(whilst Jeremy wires a plug in the background)

“The shelving - the brackets in particular - went through dozens and dozens of iterations,” Jeremy says, before Richard chips in, “It’s quite hard not to tweak each batch. At some point someone will want to add a bit to their existing collection and it just becomes very complicated. Eventually you have to cut yourself off from it.” They are, I think it’s safe to say, perfectionists.

“To do something well you have to be interested in it. If it is using a process or some technology that is new to you, you’ll be drawn to it as you’ll be educating yourself about it and firing new lines of thought related to it,” says Jeremy when asked about their combination of old and new.

It would seem that the pair continue to spark ideas off of each other, even during our conversation, “We have an ongoing debate about how much we need to develop an idea before we can submit it to online magazines,” says Richard, “You can render things so well these days. If you look at Dezeen you see that so many things are just rendered, they’re not real products. I sometimes argue ‘why spend all the money getting it made?’ Why not just churn out idea after idea, one will stick.”

“I’m thinking of making a voting system on the site where we just chuck renders and ideas on the site. If people want something working up they vote for it. Let that drive the process a bit,” adds Jeremy.

“I think its an exciting time for small designers like us. There’s lots of new avenues that you can sell your work through or raise funding,” concludes Richard. It’s clear that they won’t run dry of ideas any time soon.

-

More photos of the visit available on the M&I Facebook page

Sunday 21 August 2011

WEEKLY DIGEST

A new manufacturing centre opens soon in Coventry

A short article touching on the history of G-Plan and E Gomme (Made-Good)

The story of the Burberry trench (Isabella Pepper)

Image from Isabella Pepper

Monday 15 August 2011

FACTORY VISIT NO.5 : SMITH & PEPPER, BIRMINGHAM



Not your average M&I factory visit this. Over the weekend we had the opportunity to see an old jewellery factory preserved in its entirety.

Now part of the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, the Smith & Pepper factory closed in 1981. The owners left it practically as it was when they locked up on the final Friday of business, apparently too distressed to clear it up. When the council bought the building they found tools still on benches, overalls on coat hooks and unused boxes sat orderly on the shelves.

We were shown round by an enthusiastic guide who explained the business's family history, the owner's meticulous measures to ensure as little waste as possible and how methods were barely modernised during its 8o year lifespan.

For more photos see the M&I Facebook page.

Sunday 14 August 2011

WEEKLY DIGEST

J & FJ Baker & Co Ltd, a tannery in Colyton, Devon - a great slideshow of images with the owner, Andrew Par, outlining the process used to transform hides to leather. (BBC)

'Why it's still valuable to have an economy built on manufacturing' - according to Tyler Brûlé (FT)

Image of J & FJ Baker & Co Ltd by Paul Glendell for the BBC


Thursday 11 August 2011

ACME WHISTLES

With the football season underway in Britain, it seems fitting to be featuring the whistle of choice for referees the world over.

A recent article in The Green Soccer Journal portrayed the whistles of Birmingham based Acme Whistles beautifully. We got in touch and they kindly agreed to let us share the images with you.


Acme Whistles was founded by Joseph Hudson, an inventive toolmaker from Derbyshire who had moved to Birmingham in the Industrial Revolution.

According to the Acme Whistles website, 'in the wash house at the side of his end of terrace home in St Marks Street he made many things to help increase his family's income. His early products were snuff boxes, cork screws and whistles'.



The business was officially founded in 1883, the year that Hudson invented a novel whistle for The London Metropolitan Police who were looking to replace the cumbersome policeman's rattle.

Since then Acme Whistles have been used on the Titanic and in the World Cup final of 1966. Thanks to the company's expertise and commitment to innovation the whistles are used by many professional bodies today, including FIFA, NATO and the UN.

The company is still producing whistles from its Birmingham factory on Barr Street, 128 years after it was founded.

Thank you to James at The Green Soccer Journal for sharing the images

Photography by Alastair Strong

Tuesday 9 August 2011

MAX LAMB : MODERN CRAFTSMANSHIP


Max Lamb talks about his work with the Dunhill craftsman in this beautifully shot video.

Thanks to Jacob at Dunhill for sending it our way.

Sunday 7 August 2011

WEEKLY DIGEST

Things we've found on British manufacturing, making and design (sources in brackets) this week:

How Derby is uniting over Bombardier cuts (FT)

'Romanticising the handmade', according to Justin McGuirk (The Guardian)


Image from the Cherchbi blog

Saturday 6 August 2011

HOW VINYL IS MADE : VF MANUFACTURING


VF Manufacturing is the last major plant in the UK, pressing around 25,000 records a week (according to The Guardian).