William Morris Design Line: Open Weekend
20 - 22 September
The William Morris Design Line presents an open weekend of design, craft and making across Blackhorse Lane and Argall Industrial Area. Makers, manufacturers and designers in our corner of London are opening their doors and showing you behind-the-scenes. This is a rare opportunity to meet the makers, discover the process behind their work and try your hand at making.
This Open Weekend celebrates Blackhorse Lane as a destination of design, making and manufacturing. Discover the often unseen makers and creatives of the area and explore what is designed and made on your doorstep.
Open Studios, Open Factories and Open Workshops
The processes behind design and making often happen out of sight - in studios, workshops and factories. By opening up these spaces and showing how things are created, made, remade and repaired - we invite others to discover and appreciate the intricacies of design, fabrication and production.
Meet the makers
An opportunity to discover and celebrate the hidden creatives in our neighbourhoods. Blackhorse Lane is a creative community, powered by the industriousness of many hands. By opening up to the public, designers and makers, are creating space for honest conversations and transparency about their work.
Tools of the Trade
Behind every object is a specific set of tools, in the skilled hands of designers and makers they bring ideas to life. From hand-tools, to specialised machinery, to digital code, each maker's relationship to their tools is fundamental to their work. We want to shine a light on these rarely celebrated, but fundamental, objects.
The Open Weekend programme includes:
• Blackhorse Lane Ateliers will show you behind-the-scenes of their craft jeans factory
• Blackhorse Workshop are celebrating 10 years of Making it Together with a showcase of past and present users in their workshop spaces
• Buttress & Snatch will show you around their atelier and their upcycling processes
• The Colour of Saying present an exhibition on Ethical Colour exploring their interactive research promoting climate-positive and regenerative colour sources and processes at Switchboard Studio
• Indigo Garden and First Principals host a garden tour and demo of processing flax and extracting indigo
• Wax Atelier founder Lola Lely will show you how to transform wax waste into a beautiful beeswax floral centerpiece in their workshop
• Hive Collective and Yonder present Made in London, an event celebrating East London's vibrant manufacturing and making industry.
• Mother of Pearl and Nicole Chui share upcycling processes in a workshop for Walthamstow FC women’s club’s kit, in collaboration with Wood Street Walls
• Blackhorse Lane based artists Barry Sykes and Sandi Sutton discuss the place of making within their artistic practice
• Meet the architect and interior designer from Flamingo & Oak for a tour of their work at The Black Horse cocktail bar and pizzeria
• Armstrong Audio will give a short history and tour of their audio equipment repair shop
• Demos and workshops at Blackhorse Workshop across the weekend
• Burnt Faith Brandy House masterclass and tasting focusing on how they make and produce brandy on the only Charentais pot still in the UK
Opening times vary, for full listings visit www.wmdesignline.com
Please note some events are ticketed, booking information available in individual listings.