This afternoon, June 13th, Formlabs are here at Makerversity for their first ever European 3D printing workshop!
We've got a strong crowd and a great array of 3D models on display, straight off Formlabs' brand new Form 1+ printer. We've now got one of our own here in the studio - thank you Formlabs!
Last night in the Pearson Lab, our members Paul Sohi of 2052, and Amin Sadeghy and Mehran Gharleghi, of Studio Integrate held court with a hand picked group of Pinterest users who specialise in architecture interior and product design, to learn more about 3D modelling and printing technologies.
Image by Pinterest
Along with Pinterest's CEO, Ben Silbermann and the UK Pinterest team, the group got stuck in to the workshop, each having a go at printing their own prototypes whilst Paul introduced them to the potential of this technology for interior design.
Over the last two days, the Pearson Lab has been packed out with nearly 40 coders, programmers, designers and product managers from across the Pearson group alongside computer science students, all taking part in a hackathon to collaborate on software projects.
Eight teams took part in the event here, which ran in conjunction with 18 other hackathons around the world, including Australia, China, India, Sri Lanka, Canada, South Africa, Poland, Norway, the US and across the UK.
Teams competed for four different awards. See the winners below:
Best Use of APIs was awarded to the Pearson Ideas Wizards for 'Pearson Ideas'
A social ideas generation and collaboration platform that allows any employee at Pearson to add an idea and collaborate with anyone and everyone.
Most Innovative App went to 'Schoolrun'
An English language practice gaming app, in the 'continuous running game' style of TempleRun / Rail Rush with English learning tasks integrated into the game.
Best Business Problem-Solving App went to 'FutureLab'
Disrupting the centuries-old world of scientific publishing, FutureLab uses articles and code to generate a scientific PDF article and all the other data around it.
The People's Choice was tied between Schoolrun and FutureLab!
A great few days and a massive thanks you to all who took part!
On Thursday, May 29, the Pearson Lab here at Makerversity, a small group of seven guests attended a talk from Julie Futcher on Urban Micro Climates, following a tour of the city she gave on Tuesday night, despite the pouring rain!
Julie Futcher, the new Climate Change Advisor for our members, Architecture for Humanity, is an architect specialising in how tall buildings in London alter the micro climate of an area, by creating heat pockets, pollution, wind tunnels and shadows.
Yesterday, May 21st the Pearson Lab hosted a 3D printing workshop with CentrePoint, a charity which helps to provide opportunities for homeless young people, led by our very own Paul Sohi, of 2052 fame.
The workshop, run with a group of seven young people aged 16-24, was a taster session to introduce them to the apprenticeship opportunities available at Makerversity and to learn about the possibilities within the 3D production industry. The group had the opportunity to be 3D scanned and to draw their own designs.
Guys, I don't want to jinx it, but it seems like it might be finally getting sunny. We even managed to take to the terrace for our weekly members' breakfast and I'd estimate that at least 13 ice creams have been consumed on the premises. But less of the weather...
We've had visits from Karsten at Autodesk sorting us out with some incredible software; and Nikita from ReWork checking out the space for the Future of Education event on June 16th.
Thursday saw the Creative Society join us in the Pearson Lab to host an all-day book design workshop with their 'This Is It' competition finalists. Architecture for Humanity held an aquaponics session in the morning and were back again as we hosted the first in a series of Social Enterprise meet ups, with talks from AfH as well as our other members, Khama, 2052 and the Restart Project.
Meanwhile, a group of ten of us took a Makerversity trip out to the Curve gallery at Barbican to see Momentum, by United Visual Artists, which our members, Alex Bygrave and Hal Watts, were involved in.
Great news for our member, Imeh Akpan who will be speaking at the UXPA conference on Tuesday 22nd July, don't miss it!
Tonight, we're officially welcoming some of our most recent members to the group with a little show and tell and Friday night drinks in the space!
And finally, a huge good luck to both Stables & Lucraft and Approved(by)Pablo with their installs this weekend. Don't miss Ulmus Londinium in Covent Garden and Futurismo Ancestral, here in Somerset House, both opening early next week!
That same evening, we hosted the first in a series of six Social Enterprise meetups. Attended by the guys from the Restart Project, 2052, Khama, Architecture for Humanity and Makerversity, discussions covered funding, how to keep a business social, difficulties as start up and a general exchange of ideas around the running and management of a business.
On Thursday 15th May, we welcomed The Creative Society into the Pearson Lab with twelve This Is It! competition winners to design a striking coffee table book of Jazz FM Jazz Shapers interviews. Participants took part in group workshops and discussions and produced proposals for the book design.
On Wednesday April 30th, our members Stables and Lucraft welcomed around 50 volunteers from Timberland to help them build a 4.5m high installation which is due to open in Covent Garden’s Central Avenue on the 20th of May. Volunteers got involved through Timberland’s employee volunteer program.
The installation, Ulmus Londinium – a campaign from the Conservation Foundation, partially funded by Timberland and The Heritage Lottery Fund – is being built in conjunction with previous Ulmus Londinium projects, as part of the Chelsea Fringe and the Mayor of London’s Tree Week. The campaign aims to reintroduce the native British elm trees across London with a strain of elm sapplings seemingly resistant to Dutch Elm Disease, which almost wiped out the species in Europe over the last century.
A big thanks to the Timberland volunteers for all their help!
Follow our lovely and awesome members, Stables and Lucraft, on Twitter.
