Club Workspace @ Hackney House: DeZeen’s Design Day

We were lucky enough to have front row seats at DeZeen’s Designed in Hackney Day at Hackney House, due to our popup Club Workspace venue. As designers flocked into Hackney House from all over London, our temporary coworking venue saw lots of action. Scores of designers and journalists joined me throughout the day, to watch DeZeen’s impressive roster of speakers take their turn on the stage.

Something that united all of the speakers was a belief that ‘design’ isn’t all about making objects look nice. Design covers all ground. Experimentation in design pushes the boundaries of what is possible. It encompasses science and bleeding-edge technology. It treats software as a design material, not as a concept in the abstract. As the man from Berg told us, ‘There is no such thing as the ‘technological world’, there is only one world. Software shapes everything that we do’. 

Similar to Monday’s Creative Tech Day, there were so many top drawer speakers on show, that it seems quite harsh to boil them down to three. But, here goes! We think that you will enjoy finding out about these three class acts. 

Berg

Berg London were one of the first speakers to grace the stage at Hackney House. Berg are a local design consultancy whose innovations and achievements explode expectations. Berg realise that the industrial age has been and gone, and that we now live in the digital era. Therefore, software is there design medium. It is the material with which they create practical, beautiful, groundbreaking things. Check out their portfolio, from Shuush, through Media Surfaces to the Little Printer. 

Technology Will Save Us 

Technology Will Save Us are another local company who make a living by blowing minds. Their work is on a much more hands-on scale than Berg’s. Whereas the former work with big companies, Technology Will Save Us describe themselves as a ‘haberdashery for technology and education’. As well as running classes, TWSU create ‘kits.’ These Kits are sets of component parts that have-a-go-engineers solder together at home. Available kits include DIY Speakers, Electro-Cards and the Thirsty Plant Kit.

Sugru

Sugru is a new silicon. It is a rubber that starts life as a very malleable substance, with a texture similar to play-dough, that transforms into a strong material with powerful adhesive qualities after a period of time. Sugru is a designer-makers dream. If an innovator needs to adapt, modify or hack a product that they’re unsatisfied with, Sugru makes this possible. For an example, check it this ingenious camera hack!

Does that whet your appetite for some more Hackney House goodness? If so, the HH project is still running this week. Come down and check out the first ever Popup Club at Hackney House!