As part of the CIRCuIT (Circular construction in regenerative cities) project we challenged students from the University of Brighton to “use design-for-disassembly to build exhibition furniture...
https://www.clear-village.org/design-for-disassembly-hackathons
Contact T 020 3633 3296E info@clearvillage Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter SmallWorks is on Facebook Small Works Our admin office is located at our Small Works site in Victoria. CLEAR...
Oriel Machno (Welsh for Machno Gallery) is part of the Remote Making strand of Clear Village projects, and there have been some major developments about this rural experimental community project ...
As a part of our work on the #SMOTIES project working in small and remote places we have the opportunity to visit all the partners that we are collaborating with. This gives us a chance to have v...
The Clear Village Remote Making team have been busy delivering a series of digital making workshops in the village of Penmachno, Conwy. Generously supported by the Ashley Family Foundation, these...
In 2021 CIRCuIT partner Clear Village invited GoodWaste, a London based design studio breathing life into discarded materials to join them in a three month hackathon, Urban Mined, with the aim to...
As a part of our work on the #SMOTIES project working in small and remote places we have the opportunity to visit all the partners that we are collaborating with. This gives us a chance to have v...
Small Works is slowly getting back to normality with members running projects albeit with restrictions to keep in accordance with COVID guidelines. Our members and their beneficiaries are very ha...
https://www.clear-village.org/small-works-a-new-programme-a-new-recruit
We’ve put together a short film about recent and more historic projects by Clear Village, a quick way to tell the story so far!
This is part 2 of our Impact methodology blog series you can find the first one here. The main section of our impact measurement workshop revolved around a theory of how design fiction can be use...
https://www.clear-village.org/impact-measurement-the-fictional-scenarios
For the London Design Festival in September Clear Village exhibited the results of the CIRCuIT Urban Mined hackathon with Good Waste and Other Today alongside other designers from Hackney Depot. ...
https://www.clear-village.org/urban-mined-at-london-design-festival-2
Clear Village is undertaking an exciting new project in Penmachno, a remote rural community in the heart of Snowdonia national park, North Wales. We will be transforming a derelict shop in the vi...
https://www.clear-village.org/rural-shop-to-rural-project-space
Introduction In July Clear Village hosted a collaborative workshop with 10 different European partners in the Human CIties network. The goal of the workshop was to co create a new methodology for...
https://www.clear-village.org/impact-measurement-the-workshop
As part of CIRCuit, Clear Village organised the Urban Mined Hackathon. A novel response to COVID restrictions, instead of hosting an event with 30 people in a room, we programmed an extended 3 mo...
https://www.clear-village.org/urban-mined-at-london-design-festival
CLEAR VILLAGE is a London-based charity that helps communities build a better future through creative regeneration. We have a proven track record of co-creating solutions that foster resilience ...
THOMAS UGO ERMACORA Is a creative director and social entrepreneur whose work focuses on urban regeneration and participatory design practices. He is the founder and curator of LimeWharf, an arti...
We are happy to announce that our Small Works space in Victoria has reopened. Our members are delighted with the news as it means they will be able to resume their valuable activities, and we wil...
https://www.clear-village.org/small-works-victoria-has-reopened
One of Clear Village’s main responsibilities in Human Cities IV is to create the methodology for impact assessment. All Human Cities partners will carry out an intervention in a small, remote p...
https://www.clear-village.org/how-do-you-really-co-create-impact-methodology
Small Works is a joint programme by Clear Village and CIVA to turn underused spaces into vibrant centers for social enterprise and community services. At the heart of Small Works lies the belie...
Having been a partner for Human Cities III, Clear Village is excited to be a part of the newest edition, Human Cities IV – a collaborative EU project working co-creatively with 10 European part...
We were delighted to receive a grant from the National Lottery’s Awards for All programme recently. The grant has helped us adapt our Small Works project to support our social enterprise member...
https://www.clear-village.org/awards-for-all-for-small-works
Machines Room was a Clear Village project that ran from 2012 – 2019. London’s first Fab Lab, it was a vibrant community of East London designers, architects, artists and engineers, with facil...
Clear Village is a partner in CIRCuIT – Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities – a collaborative project involving 29 ambitious partners across the entire built environment chain in Co...
Penmachno Community Hub Design Sprint & Digital Skills Taster Session Back in March 2019 Clear Village Project Lead Kristin Johanna Luke led a community hub sprint and open day, teaching digital ...
Last week we had the pleasure of visiting the Canning Town site of European Metal Recycling or EMR and met site manager Tom Fenton to discuss how EMR separates, treats and transports different me...
https://www.clear-village.org/a-trip-to-european-metal-recycling
In June Clear Village hosted a successful CIRCuIT City Hack which attracted designers, architects, engineers and built environment experts from around the globe as part of the CIRCuIT circular ec...
After 6 years and 2 locations as East London’s impact maker space, Machines Room is changing. We’d like to introduce Batch.works a long-time collaborator with Machines Room, having joined mac...
Re:flex is a team working to make shape-memory materials accessible. We developed our own composite material that can change its shape with heat and are exploring its applications in an everyday ...
GoodWaste is a new design studio working on projects that create social and environmental good by reconsidering how objects are made. We research localities, investigate material flows, and exper...
We are once again opening our doors for London Design Festival this year. We will be open for the public to look around machines room and running some exhibitions and workshops too! Cohort Reside...
In April we hosted the making sessions of the innovative arts education program ModUAL run by Fred Deakin with Other Today and the Design Museum. ModUAL brings students from a range of discipli...
https://www.clear-village.org/modual-maker-workshop-at-machines-room-2
At the end of March, we ran our first workshop in collaboration with the Science Museum and the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers. This was the first ‘making’ step in a long ...
In honour of International Women’s day here at Machines Room I wanted to take a moment to celebrate some of the most influential women working in design, both now and in the past. Too often wom...
We have started Small Works Big Ideas, our Islington-based social action programme which challenges young people to act on issues that they care about in their community and create solution drive...
Credit: Tiina Azojan for Tallinn Design Festival Human Cities: Challenging the City Scale book launch We are delighted to announce that the final book of the Human Cities project- “Challenging ...
https://www.clear-village.org/human-cities-challenging-the-city-scale-book-launch
We'll be opening our doors for the first time in our new location as part of London Design Festival 2018
Machines Room has joined the fabulous Containerville only 2 minutes walk from our old site. Our new address is Containers 54 and 55, 35 Corbridge Cresent, London E2 9EZ. We’ll be opening up for...
Even in the final weeks of our location at MR, we haven’t stopped coming up with new projects and adventures! We’ve whipped up Local Manufacture, a prototype shop to sell products exclusively...
After the recent launch of their business, new website, and new products, we though it was about time we caught up with Grain, a furniture making duo who are working wonders while on the Cohor...
Salome Bazin, one of our Cohort members, has just launched two websites, her own and one for Cellule, a collaborative design group she founded. Seems like there is lots to talk about, so we th...
We’re exploring what we think is a clever new solution to a lot of day-to-day problems in cities. Working with Cargobike Life, we’ve conducted a feasibility study for the City of London Corpo...
https://www.clear-village.org/cargobike-life-and-clear-village
We caught up with Jana Zornik, one of our newer Cohort members, whose bespoke interactive objects for self-enhancement have piqued our interest. Check out how she will develop them during her tim...
Georgia Voukia is an architecture student who is currently on Cohort as part of an erasmus placement – we caught up with her about how it’s going so far. Can you tell us a bit about your back...
Ross Atkin is a longstanding member of Machines Room who is now also a member of Cohort. He’s been involved in a huge range of projects at and via Machines Room. We caught up with him about wha...
Matt Gilbert has been a Machines Room member for quite a while now, and we were very excited to have him join Cohort, Machines Room’s pre-incubator and professional development programme. We...
This year will be an exciting year in the Human Cities III_Challenging The City Scale project! While this iteration of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union project is coming to an ...
It’s the first day of BETT! Come celebrate education, chat with teachers, have a play about with some fun new technologies and drink some local beers at Machines Room, the makerspace on London�...
Machines Room will provide a stimulating & fun environment for your office xmas party – get hands on and make something amazing! Activities include: Create stickers and tee shirts using our ...
Seeing as the application deadline for Cohort is fast approaching (9th November!), we asked Garth, one of our members, to interview strategic director Nat Hunter about the future of Cohort – w...
We’re excited to venture into brand new territory!Coming early in 2018, we’re connecting with young people on Priory Green Estate to motivate, inspire, and empower them to create the kind of ...
Intentional Things, Building values into maker-led businesses. The world is changing fast, but things – products and hardware – are still the only way that software technologies can access u...
Film maker Paul Wyatt was commissioned by the Distributed Everything Lab at The Royal College of Art to make two films about companies which are pioneering new ways of manufacturing today. Thes...
Thanks to everyone who came and contributed to A New Normal, a highlight of Machines Room’s year and an opportunity for us to showcase all the amazing projects we have helped cultivate, whic...
In May we teamed up with the Royal College of Art to hold a series of making workshops for people living in SW1, London. We called the event Made in SW1, and through it we explored the notion of ...
A New Normal 18-23 September 2017 A New Normal, Machines Room’s exhibition for the London Design Festival, is an exhibition which asks the question ‘Who is making products for a world beyond ...
https://www.clear-village.org/new-normal-exhibition-18-23-sep
Build a creative space from the ground up in Ukraine with veteran Maker in Residence Michael Obrizkiv!
Join us for Maker in Residence Susanna Gibson’s breakfast showcase, marking the end of her residency at Machines Room. She’ll be introducing her research into sustainable materials for furnit...
https://www.clear-village.org/susanna-gibson-breakfast-showcase
This Wednesday you are invited to the Kickstarter Launch Party for the Crane Lamp, designed by Matt Gilbert and made in Machines Room
https://www.clear-village.org/kickstarter-launch-party-crane-lamp
How can we make wheelchairs more adaptable, customisable, and look more appealing to wheelchair wearers?
Salome is one of our newest Makers in Residence, and she is working on quite a few exciting, groundbreakingly interdisciplinary projects. We chatted to find out more about what’s in store for h...
Coco Sato is an award-winning Japanese artist based in the UK. Her work uses origami to change the way people see the world. The next part of the world she will be working in is here at Machines ...
We've just added some great new features to the website, check them out!
Susanna Gibson is a maker who has been involved at Machines Room for a long time now, and starting as a Maker in Residence is yet another fascinating chapter in her time here! We caught up to see...
Take home your own stool and learn this heat shrinking bottle technique with designer Micaella Pedros. You will gain a hands-on experience with the Joining Bottles technique through the making o...
Do you have a new idea that you want to turn into a business? Upstarter is here to help you make it a reality!
So many exciting projects simmering away in the laboratory that is our residency programme here at Machines Room. Beck O’Brien is here on a month-long residency, and we caught up with her to se...
Our newest Makers in Residence Laura Martinez and Natsai Audrey Chieza are up to some fascinating experimentation with biological dyeing processes and are pushing the boundaries between traditi...
We are VERY excited to announce the Kickstarter launch of Machines Room residents Kniterate. It’s a new tool for digital knitting. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kniterate/kniterate-the-d...
https://www.clear-village.org/kniterate-a-new-tool-for-fab-labs-and-maker-spaces
It has been over a month since Machines Room said goodbye to our Hello Shenzhen Maker in Residence, Kang Cheng, but far from being a final farewell, the exchange programme has proven to be only ...
We caught up with Zaynab Hamdi, who is currently crowdfunding her first product Letter Connector, an Arabic language teaching tool. She developed her product at Machines Room over the first year ...
Want to grow local food? Bring Nature back to the city? You need a Growroom! Space 10, supported by IKEA have released Open Source plans for this fantastic large wooden sphere with walls made...
Last November, Machines Room took part in the Craft Council’s excellent biennial conference, Make:Shift, at the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester. It was attended by over 250 people a...
https://www.clear-village.org/makeshift-craft-sustainability
Julien Vaissieres and Dylan Bahnan, founders of Plyset, have created a new auto-print technique and you can download their instructions
Kniterate (think 3d printing clothes) have been maker’s in residence for 6 months. Celebrate the launch of their Kickstarter campaign next wednesday We need your help to reach our target of �...
Elizabeth Joseph is Maker Library resident this month up-cycling melted milk bottles and acrylic laser cut scraps into jewellery Can you tell us a bit about your background as a maker, and your p...
https://www.clear-village.org/elizabeth-joseph-turns-plastic-treasure
Spring into making this Friday as we open up for 2 maker workshops: vertical farms & upcycled plastic jewellery Up-cycled and perspex jewellery workshops Our Maker in Residence Elizabeth Joseph ...
Join us on Thursday at Impact Hub Westminster to see how Kang has approached the Disrupt Disability brief to design a multipurpose hub for a wheelchair. > Register to attend here
Kristin tells us about Machines Room’s unique mission as a maker space in east London that’s open to the public. Post originally appeared: https://www.opendesk.cc/blog/meet-the-makers-kristin...
Get to grips with microcontrollers and electronics by making an Automaton truly autonomous using Arduino, some code, sensors and a variety of other electronic components. Will you make yours resp...
Dan Chambers from Draft wheelchairs came to visit Hello Shenzhen resident Kang Cheng at Machines Room to show him how wheelchairs are measured and made. Crammed into the Maker Library we went th...
We welcome Kang Cheng as a new resident in the Maker Library, all the way from Shenzhen, China! He joins Machines Room as part of the British Council Hello Shenzhen maker residency programme. ...
Chris Verbick wants everyone to have their own bag of land and he’ll be spending March as Maker Library Resident making tiny farms. We asked him a few questions about his plans. Can you tell us...
Get to grips with Arduino and electronics by making a moving sculpture!
Machines Room is now hosting new residents Julien Vaissieres and Dylan Bahnan as they develop their project Plyset. We wanted to know more about their background and how the whole collaboration ...
Check out all the videos that we have helped make at Machines Room > https://machinesroom.co.uk/filmvideo/
Last week we made the trek from east to west London to visit the new Design Museum. The museum has a permanent gallery Designer – User – Maker and we were thrilled to find photos of Ma...
Ruby Childs expands on her experience with Data Physicalisation, a key element in her Maker in Residence project here at Machines Room, and surveys some Data Physicalisation projects which inspir...
Check out what Maker in Residence Ruby is experimenting with, and pick up some handy how-tos! Origami: Place in a Makerspace An Intro to Origami Origami is a beautiful traditional paper craft whe...
https://www.clear-village.org/ruby-childs-origami-experiments
We are excited to be hosting Ruby Childs, a new Maker in Residence at Machines Room. >more We had a little Q&A with her to find out what’s in store for her residency! Can you tell us a ...
https://www.clear-village.org/ruby-childs-maker-in-residence
Another step in the right direction for our plastic recycling system: honing our bowl-making techniques! After playing around with different melting levels and moulds, we managed to press-m...
https://www.clear-village.org/weeknotes-experimenting-with-precious-plastic
The film documentation of Fix Our City is ready! If you missed the exhibition, check out what it was all about here.
Give someone a bespoke maker's gift - a laser cut birch plywood voucher for your choice of Machines Room activities.
We are accepting applications for residencies starting early 2017 You can join us from January as a six month professional resident. Residencies are intended for professionals who would use Machi...
https://www.clear-village.org/residency-opportunities-for-jan-feb-2017
Check out what Robin Shepherd, one of our long-standing members, was hiding in piles of cotton wool, balloons, bicycles, and boxes piled up in a corner of Machines Room… Robin turned it all int...
https://www.clear-village.org/like-maker-project-robin-shepherd-for-raynsie
Tiny alien friends that interact with your laptop by @_caroline6868 Such a great Saturday! Last weekend Machines Room hosted the final workshop in the Code Liberation series, a seven week colla...
https://www.clear-village.org/code-liberation-workshop-at-machines-room
Fabrication according to conventional wisdom is where raw materials are turned into finished goods on a large scale. The image that comes to mind is of industrial buildings with smoking stacks on...
We were excited to interview Molly Gavriel, member of the DisruptDisability team, to get an update on how the project is going – it’s come so far since they started their residency at Machine...
https://www.clear-village.org/disruptdisability-makers-in-residence-3
Meet our Makers in Residence GUK; an architecture practice based in Sicily, designing and creating handmade products.
So, Fix Our City seemed like it only happened yesterday! It’s still so fresh on all our minds here at Machines Room. The exhibition and events programme, part of the Maker Mile and London Desig...
https://www.clear-village.org/along-the-maker-mile-fix-our-city-at-machines-room
We caught up with Jasmine Johnson, who has just completed her Maker in Residence at Machines Room, to find out her thoughts and responses about the experience: MR: Can you tell us a bit about you...
https://www.clear-village.org/jasmine-johnson-maker-in-residence
On 10th November 2016, Clear Village played host to a dynamic mix of community members, social entrepreneurs, housing providers and local government representatives. After kicking off the event w...
https://www.clear-village.org/small-works-supporting-social-enterprise-supporting-your-community
It’s autumn and time for our community project, Precious Plastic to wake up again after its summer pause. We have a shredder, of sorts, we can melt and we have an injection moulder, so it’s t...
https://www.clear-village.org/precious-plastic-meetup-16-11-16
19 – 23 September, 2016 The Fix Our City exhibition, as a part of London Design Festival, is a week long exploration of “new approaches towards the roles of citizens and maker spaces in the t...
https://www.clear-village.org/london-design-festival-fix-our-city-exhibition
Ever wanted to make an interactive toy or game but not known how? In this V&A workshop series starting October and ending in an exhibition of student projects at the V&A Late, you will learn eve...
https://www.clear-village.org/code-liberation-workshops-va-goldsmiths-and-machines-room
Ever wanted to paint with light in three dimensions? Or go to the bottom of the ocean without getting wet? Well, for one night only you can. We are hosting a demo of the HTC Vive VR headset on We...
https://www.clear-village.org/virtual-reality-showcase-come-and-paint-dive-and-play
This year is the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, and there’s a great season of events to mark the occasion. We at Machines Room were lucky enough to work with Artichoke, those w...
https://www.clear-village.org/londons-burning-and-it-started-at-machines-room
Join Katrine Hesseldahl and B&Q here at Machines Room on Wednesday 7th September from 10am til 1pm to work with designers and makers to create a waste sorting system specifically tailored to your...
https://www.clear-village.org/waste-sorting-design-workshop-with-wrap-and-bq
Well, our boat was almost too good – one of our Makers in Residence, Ross Andrews, used the Shopbot to cleverly recreate a punt originally designed in the 1940s. After a week of sleepless night...
We are excited to announce our first Machine in Residence – Machine Supply by Matt Webb, an internet connected book vending machine stuffed with personal recommendations. Machines Room staff h...
https://www.clear-village.org/first-machine-in-residence-machine-supply
Ahoy mehearties! We are proud to be participating in the inaugural Maker Raft Race 2016 this Saturday. Please come see the awesome boat that Ross is building, cheer us on, and join in the fun! Al...
https://www.clear-village.org/the-inaugural-maker-raft-race-this-saturday
Image courtesy of Smile Plastics. The full schedule of events to accompany Fix Our City exhibition is now available! Choose from an exciting, huge range of activities, workshops, and presentatio...
“I realized that basically the way that cities are being developed is a little broken.” — Thomas Ugo Ermacora, founder, Clear Village Recoded City examines alternative urban design, pl...
We had a busy time last Saturday with 30 makers hacking the idea of what a wheelchair can be. #HackOnWheels is the brainchild of our Maker in Residence Rachael Wallach and the make-athon brought ...
Last night Machines Room was packed with people talking Hardware. CRL, London’s newest Hardware Accelerator, held an evening inviting applications to their second cohort of hardware startups. T...
https://www.clear-village.org/crl-hardware-accelerator-comes-to-east-london
Craig Dunlop (http://machinesroom.org/members/CraigDunlop) and Peter A. Smith (http://machinesroom.org/members/PeterASmith) have spent the last month experimenting in Machines Room as part of t...
https://www.clear-village.org/1307-mln-residency-showcase-craig-dunlop-peter-a-smith
Good to Nature, Good to People, Good to Business: A Holistic Blue Economy is the Answer This unique introductory workshop is a roadmap for sustainable business based on the Blue Economy principle...
https://www.clear-village.org/2nd-july-the-blue-economy-workshop
Last week we welcomed 6 new resident makers into the Maker Library. 4 professional makers join us for six months; Ross Atkin, Helen Steer, Phoenix Perry & Rachael Wallach. Craig Dunlop has come...
https://www.clear-village.org/maker-library-network-residents-start
Last week we hosted a day long workshop on Open Source Circular Economy led by Erica Purvis – people from a wide range of disciplines came together to develop practical ways of integrating the ...
Beyond the Pages: Recoded City Date: 9 June 2016 Time: 6:30PM Location: Machines Room, 45, Vyner Street, Hackney, London, E2 9DQSpeakers: Thomas Ermacora (Chair), editor of Recoded City: Co-C...
https://www.clear-village.org/9th-june-beyond-the-pages-co-creating-urban-futures-for-the-90
OPEN CALL: Free Professional Development Programme for London-based creatives LONDON CREATIVE NETWORK is a new development programme for creative practitioners in London, run by SPA...
https://www.clear-village.org/london-creative-network-open-call-application-deadline-26th-june
We are very excited to be hosting Processing Playground course – come learn a really cool multi-use coding programme for anyone with a visual mind – book tickets here!
https://www.clear-village.org/15th-june-processing-playground-classes
Starting 15th June Machines Room is hosting classes on Blender – an extremely useful, open source software which can be used in all kinds of fabrication and animation! Book tickets here!
The Dr Bike programme, part of Life Cycle UK, is visiting Machines Room – we will be hosting an experienced mechanic who will check over bikes and make simple repairs and adjustments to ensur...
Join us for the next Precious Plastic meetup, where we will set in motion the next phase of sourcing and building our very own plastic recycling system! Check out the inspiration, get involved a...
A work in progress show from the students of MA Fashion Futures at London College of Fashion. As humans we operate primarily at intimate scales, looking for connection both to ourselves and to o...
Maker Library Resident Workshop: Mechanical Lamps Join March’s Maker-In-Residence Matt Gilbert at Machines Room to create (and keep!) lamps using his unique scissor structure technique. All...
https://www.clear-village.org/1805-maker-library-resident-workshop-mechanical-lamps
PLASTIC EXTRUSION! The very generous Tom Fox arranged the donation of a plastic extruder – an ancient retro precursor to the 3D printer! The whole kit is amazing, complete with plastic moulds a...
A bit of a #makermile success story this week. Working with Helen from East London Printmakers up the road we have printed 200 of our new flyer/pamphlets designed by Phillip Raiford Johnson. They...
The Internet of Things (IoT) is profoundly changing the way we live. Join this industrial revolution and learn how to remotely monitor and control your environment. This workshop is for beginners...
https://www.clear-village.org/learn-about-internet-of-things
Machines Room fabricated a set of https://www.opendesk.cc/ furniture on our ShopBot CNC for the RSA’s The Great Recovery project. …
https://www.clear-village.org/open-desk-lean-desk-for-rsa-the-great-recovery
Artist So Kanno will be testing out his laser bugs in the classroom this wednesday evening, pop by and see some awesome robots, pop by on Wednesday 6 – 9 to have a look!
https://www.clear-village.org/live-laserbugs-test-by-so-kanno
We are building Dave Hakkens’ Precious Plastic machines! It’s a fantastic suite of 4 machines that start with shredding and then move through extrusion, injection and compression. The first s...
https://www.clear-village.org/building-the-precious-plastic-recycling-machines
We’re going to start writing weeknotes.. observing and documenting all the amazing things (as well as some of the mundane ones) that happen in a week at Machines Room On Wednesday night we had ...
Maker Library Maker in Residence Matt J Gilbert showcased the designs he has been making over the course of his time at Machines Room. Matt used the time to get ready for Milan Design Festival an...
https://www.clear-village.org/maker-library-showcase-matt-j-gilbert
We really enjoyed hosting the participants of the Creativity Works Fashion Workshop. They came to Machines Room to learn how to design T Shirts and then returned a month later to showcase their d...
https://www.clear-village.org/creativity-works-fashion%EF%BB%BF-workshop
The Maker Library Network held their global think tank here and connected in person at Machines Room and with participants from over 10 countries online. Ideas for the future of the programme wer...
https://www.clear-village.org/maker-library-network-think-tank
Inspired by the success of the soup events in Detroit our friends at Small Works Kings Cross and Small Works Victoria have brought #PROJECTSOUP to London. Since its successful 2015 launch, we ha...
As 2015 draws to a close, I would like to share a number of reflections on how I see Clear Village developing in the years ahead. The first theme I would like to touch on is the relationship betw...
In July we wrote about our view on the key messages from the Future of Places conferences in Stockholm. We talked about the emergence of new models of delivering public space in which newly emerg...
https://www.clear-village.org/best-practice-in-supporting-bottom-up-placemaking
In the beginning of July UN Habitat and Project for Public Spaces hosted a three-day conference on the Future of Places. The aim of the conference, and the two preceding ones, was to establish a ...
https://www.clear-village.org/our-view-on-the-future-of-places-key-messages
The Local Centres Regeneration Toolkit we developed together with Opportunity Sutton is now accessible online. Sutton’s town centres and high streets, much like others in the UK, face the chal...
https://www.clear-village.org/local-centres-regeneration-toolkit-online
We are very excited to announce that we’ve been given a grant from the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund. This is a major milestone for the Walled Garden as the grant will sustain the main ...
https://www.clear-village.org/a-new-3-year-grant-for-the-walled-garden
We are happy to report that Clear Village has been commissioned to develop an online toolkit to support community-led initiatives for High Streets in the London Borough of Sutton. Sutton’s High...
https://www.clear-village.org/clear-village-develops-high-street-regeneration-toolkit
“What on earth is a tweet!?” Stemmed from a growing interest in the use of social media, Small Works Victoria has began providing workshops on a regular basis. Every Thursday at 3pm, members ...
Clear Village has been commissioned by Havering Council to run a programme for children during the summer holidays 2014 in the Walled Garden. The programme invites children to take part in a play...
https://www.clear-village.org/summer-programme-in-the-walled-garden
In my previous post I wrote about the increasing importance of measuring impact and how new technologies could support this. This post goes back to the practice of measuring impact and the method...
https://www.clear-village.org/focus-on-impact-with-acumen-by-robin-houterman
On Tuesday the 10th of June we were very pleased to welcome Stephen Williams MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to Bedfords Park Walled Garden. The m...
https://www.clear-village.org/stephen-williams-mp-visits-the-walled-garden
Experimentation and prototyping, two design practices, can be powerful drivers to build trusting relationships with the local communities Clear Village works with. As we have experienced, build...
https://www.clear-village.org/experimentation-and-prototyping-in-community-building-by-marie-james
Regent Estate Dreams Drawing Factory is a community-led art installation organized by Marie James of The Pink Pony and Clear Village with the residents of the Regent Estate in East London through...
https://www.clear-village.org/regents-estate-dreams-drawing-factory
Some words from community foot practitioner and local resident Jennifer Hayden on her Guerrilla Gardening activity in Pimlico… First year after taking over this little space outside Pimlico T...
We couldn’t shut up shop for the Easter bank holiday without a festive Easter Egg Hunt. Many thanks to the Victoria Easter bunny and the riddle put together by On Purpose’s, Kate for the chil...
https://www.clear-village.org/the-vauxhall-estate-easter-egg-hunt
During the Easter school holidays, we were very proud to host a London Football Journeys young ambassadors meeting in April at Small Works Victoria and look forward to giving them the space ag...
Workshop 44 is excited to announce E8 Community Newsmagazine, a collaboration between resident Richard Hunt, and members of Workshop 44. The magazine was founded eight months ago by Richard with ...
https://www.clear-village.org/stories-from-e8-community-magazine
Lots of new activities have started or are planned this summer at Small Works Hackney! This month, Rich Hearn, founder of GenerationHackney, joined Small Works Hackney and set up free workshops f...
Invitations went out in local supermarkets, libraries and on nearby estates for the St Patricks Day Ceili as they call it in the mother tongue, at Small Works on the afternoon of March 17th. In c...
In the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, our newest member to SWV, Hope from Fresh Perception Therapy, hosted a ‘Health and Well-being Awareness Day’ on Wednesday 19th February. The event ...
We are excited to announce that Small Works Hackney will be pioneering in London the participatory and global art event ‘The Big Laundry‘ (translation from french ‘La grande lessive’) on ...
https://www.clear-village.org/regent-estate-participatory-drawing-days-and-exhibition-in-march
As described in a recent Working Paper by the Third Sector Research Centre, third sector organisations are making more and more of an effort to measure their impact on individuals, communities an...
Breaking news: we have just received a major grant from the SIB Group. DCLG Minister Stephen Williams announced the names of the 17 successful recipients of the Community Ownership & Management o...
https://www.clear-village.org/a-new-large-grant-for-the-walled-garden
Our lovely Small Works Hackney members, The London orchard project, are on a mission to plant the first orchard on Regent Estate on this Saturday February 1st 2014 . And they need your help! Join...
https://www.clear-village.org/regent-estate-orchard-planting-on-february-1st-save-the-date
Since September 2013, Clear Village has been working with the Friends of Roxton Road Parks (FoRPP) to revitalize a small network of downtown parks in Toronto, Canada. FoRPP aims to improve the pa...
https://www.clear-village.org/toronto-rain-garden-project-wins-19000
Before the well-deserved end-of-the-year holiday all the Workshop 44 crew celebrated winter at the Workshop with home-made mulled cider cooked by Lewis from the London Orchard Project, and some c...
https://www.clear-village.org/winter-celebration-at-workshop-44
SISK are an Irish construction company, who are involved in building 25 new affordable homes for Peabody and in the run up to Christmas they held an event at Small Works Victoria where they donat...
https://www.clear-village.org/handcrafted-toys-for-vauxhall-estate-children
Clear Village has won an honourable mention in the “Brutalist Facelift’ competition with a proposal to make a series of post-war communist housing blocks in Latvia ‘invisible’ with a mirr...
https://www.clear-village.org/honourable-mention-in-brutalist-facelift-competition
To launch the Voices series, I would like to discuss three concepts which lie at the heart of what we’re trying to achieve at Clear Village. They are, in a sense, the DNA of our organisation. I...
Human evolution does not roll itself out at fibre-optic speed. Quite on the contrary, we humans evolve extremely slowly with unrecognisable differences from generation to generation. Indeed many ...
https://www.clear-village.org/alice-holmberg-is-the-human-brain-operating-at-the-village-scale
Alongside my work at Clear Village, I am a member of the LPU collective, Liga de la Partida Urbana. At LPU, we carry out urban interventions that aim to rediscover and re-invent the public space ...
https://www.clear-village.org/paint-as-a-tool-of-change-by-teresa-garcia-alcaraz
Participatory planning on the neighbourhood level has been experimented with, and in some cities established practice, for many years. Next Hamburg has taken participatory planning to the next sc...
https://www.clear-village.org/towards-the-crowd-sourced-city-vision-by-robin-houterman
The London Orchard Project held 2 ‘Juicing Day’ events on Oct. 26th and Oct. 31st, offering samples to passers-by and showing Regent Estate residents the benefits of having their own communit...
https://www.clear-village.org/pressing-fresh-apple-juice-in-workshop-44
PROJECT NEWS PLACEMAKING AWARDS 2013 SHORTLISTED x2 We’re delighted to say that two of our projects have been shortlisted for the Placemaking Awards 2013, which “recognise and publicise proje...
On October 31st 2013, residents of Regent Estate in East London were invited to celebrate Halloween with the Workshop 44 (Small Works Hackney) team at Marlborough square, and to bring this odd sp...
https://www.clear-village.org/the-workshop-44-halloween-celebration-at-marlborough-square
PROJECT NEWS BEDFORDS PARK WALLED GARDEN HARVESTING VEGETABLES, FRUITS AND AWARDS In September, we were thrilled to receive a ‘thriving’ award in the It’s Your Neighbourhood programme run b...
Not only are we harvesting the vegetables we sowed this late spring, we are now also harvesting awards! In September we were thrilled to receive a “thriving” award in the It’s Your Neighbou...
https://www.clear-village.org/the-walled-garden-is-harvesting-awards
In spring we signed up to Capital Growth’s million meals campaign, pledging to grow 2000 meals in the garden. Today we’ve beaten our target and have provided the equivalent of 2421 meals. Thi...
https://www.clear-village.org/walled-garden-produces-more-than-2000-meals
Almost 650 children aged 5 to 10, including 30 disabled children and young adults, visited the Walled Garden in Bedfords Park for our Harvest Festival week. The festival was jointly organised by ...
PROJECT NEWS SMALLWORKS VICTORIA OUR FIRST ENTREPRENEUR LEAVES THE NEST August saw some exciting developments at Small Works Victoria. We’ve established links with Fareshare and Tate Britain, s...
This Saturday we were catching the last beams of sunshine as Small Works Hackney presented the research and community feedback on Marlborough Square. Over afternoon tea, residents from Regent Est...
AlaSan Gent Ceesay is a volunteer at Small Works Victoria and is currently collecting books and other supplies to send back to his hometown of Brikama in The Gambia. His inspiration for the colle...
PROJECT NEWS SMALLWORKS VICTORIA SUCH A LOVELY CO-WORKING SPACE LOCATED IN THE HEART OF VICTORIA! More than 7 organisations are based full- time in the space together with community members from ...
Small Works Victoria’s first black and white film night presented the 1942 classic Casablanca to residents of the Vauxhall Estate. Set in Morocco in the early days of WWII it delighted the audi...
Wednesday the 17th of July saw the launch of Small Works Victoria’s first Photoshop workshop. Skills covered included an introduction to the package, photo selection and basic editing technique...
Following the success of the open day Small Works Victoria is proud to present three new workshops… +CV drop in and careers advice – Fortnightly Thursday 2-4pm with On Purpose +Photoshop sess...
As significant as Independence Day, Small Works Victoria 4th of July open day went off without a hitch! A steady flow of people including residents of the Vauxhall Estate, member organisations...
Share to use, occupy, or enjoy (something) jointly with another or others The act of sharing is something children are actively encouraged to do from a young age and is seen as an essential life...
Midsummer’s night lived up to its magical reputation in the garden. The night of the 21st of June saw around 100 people come for the first public viewing of the garden in over 200 years. Guests...
https://www.clear-village.org/midsummers-night-walled-garden
Written by Mariane Jang, Stephen Lorimer & Korinna Thielen. Consumption Diaries was a lowtech experiment to determine the consumption behaviour of the ISS group and the factors that shaped thi...
On a warm and sunny Sunday, Small Works Hackney celebrated the Global Sharing Day by hosting a Big Lunch with the community of Regent Estate. The legendary Caribbean food of local chef Rosa and t...
Take two of the official kids film night. This evening local kids were invited down for the Small Works Victoria fortnightly film screenings. With the projector set up and snacks prepared, the f...
https://www.clear-village.org/vauxhall-estate-film-night-rango-a-review
On the afternoon of Monday 15th April 2013, Small Works Victoria space was transformed into a temporary dance studio. Setting up a dance class can be a daunting task but in this case we hoped it ...
CLEAR VILLAGE founder, artist and strategy director Thomas Ermacora has been invited as a guest lecturer to the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou to guide and curate the development of a series of...
https://www.clear-village.org/ermacora-curating-hangzhou-interventions
With the growing season upon us, the garden team needed to get the walled garden ready to plant. The polytunnel walls were recently refurbished by Havering Parks and made a perfect, protected spa...
Small Works Victoria is working in collaboration with Net Worx, a Peabody-led project which enables residents of Peabody estates to become Digital Champions and tackle the monster challenges that...
After a freezing weekend, Monday came around quicker than usual and the realisation of organising a Jumble Sale set in. The big question looming over us all was would anyone attend? Would it be j...
We’re thrilled to report that CLEAR VILLAGE has just come off an incredibly successful series of Labs at the old Lloyds Pharmacy space on Tottenham High Rd. Now we’re sitting back and reflect...
This week’s Coffee Afternoons Monday motto was “power to the people” and was hosted by SW1 Community Organiser, Chi Usanga. She led a discussion and listening exercises with the residents, ...
https://www.clear-village.org/sparking-up-the-discussion-in-community-action
The many spaces available on Peabody housing estates all over London, made available with the closure of estate offices, now left abandoned and unused, served as inspiration for the project. The ...
Mirela, ‘To me, Community is having neighbours that look out for you‘. James; ‘To me, Community is socially close and supportive‘. Hello I’m Small Works and to me, Community is opening ...
HOLIDAY CHEER CLEAR VILLAGE SENDS WARM REGARDS Holiday Greetings from CLEAR VILLAGE! From meeting amongst stunning white-frosted trees in Bedfords Park to mingling for interviews with holiday sho...
https://www.clear-village.org/clear-village-holiday-2012-newsletter
We are very excited to announce that Design Council/CABE and the Friends of Down Lane Park have selected CLEAR VILLAGE as the design partner for the Alley Links project in Tottenham, northeast Lo...
https://www.clear-village.org/clear-village-to-redesign-alleys-with-tottenham-community
On a beautiful, clear and crisp Saturday morning in Hackney, CLEAR VILLAGE and CIVA joined the community of Regent Estate and members of the Tenants and Residents Association for a day of design ...
Dynamic Dialogues is back in Helsingborg! The time is Monday the 26 November 2012 and the place Helsingborg City Theatre. We’ll be staging the third of Dynamic Dialogues Labs series and will ag...
https://www.clear-village.org/dynamic-dialogues-is-back-in-helsingborg
JOIN US FOR A DAY OF DESIGN & MAKING! We’ve asked you what you liked and what you were missing in your neighbourhood. Many of you have answered questionnaires and shared your opinions, and we a...
make.helsinki GETTING IT DONE IN MAKESHOP 3! Despite competition from the beautiful summer weather, CLEAR VILLAGE and Demos Helsinki recently joined a good-size group of about twenty-five par...
https://www.clear-village.org/clear-village-september-2012-newsletter
POP-UP URBANISM FRONTIERS will take place at the Old Customs Warehouse (Tulli-ja pakkahuone), the hub of Helsinki Design Week, from 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm on Friday 14th September 2012. “In the W...
https://www.clear-village.org/exploring-pop-up-urbanism-frontiers-in-helsinki
Yesterday – July 26th – CLEAR VILLAGE was part of the Big Lunch organised with CIVA and Rolemop at Workshop 44 in Regent Estate in Hackney. Local residents enjoyed a full afternoon of activit...
LONDON SUMMER CLEAR VILLAGE & LONDON THIS SUMMER! From Hackney to Essex, in classrooms and workshops CLEAR VILLAGE is engaging community centers and working with landlords to make great changes i...
https://www.clear-village.org/clear-village-july-2012-newsletter
This Tuesday we started one of the coolest projects so far run in the Workshop44. We will create in collaboration with YouthWorld, OffCentre and the BBC a music video for our very own talented AG...
Children are taking out their utensils to show us how it’s done. Expecting a rainbow of color on the theme ‘Family and Community Life’ to brighten up our workshop. They have just another w...
Keir Philip has been teaching and performing break dancing for a couple of years; starting as a weekly instructor in Bristol before taking his moves around the world with him. Whether delivering ...
‘Tackling interviews’ workshops for unemployed people at Workshop44. These free workshops encourage participants to improve presentation, confidence and practical techniques needed when under...
Exciting news! In the spirit of an old project started in Paris almost 10 years ago, I have finally found a way to achieve my ambition to have offices that reflect Clear Village’s regeneration ...
https://www.clear-village.org/big-step-towards-a-recode-collective-by-thomas-ermacora
Bikeworks Bikeworks is a social enterprise that uses bicycle programs to engage with troubled communities and tackle social and environmental problems at a local level. For just one day, our work...
Keeping the neighborhood clean from litter and dog fouling is one of those ever recurring themes in Resident Association meetings on the Regents Estate. Picking up on this queue from the locals,...
https://www.clear-village.org/neighborhood-clean-up-poster-drawing
The Other Cinema, from the creators of Secret Cinema, returns this May for its second edition and global launch with one of the most provocative, truthful and relevant films made about urban you...
PROJECTS & LABS NEWS I LOVE ATINA CLEAR VILLAGE is excited to announce our findings for the first phase of our co-creative work in Atina, Italy! Atina is a typical small town facing many of the t...
Poached Creative, a company specializing in writing and design for charities and the social sector, is running its six week training program at Workshop 44. The first session, ‘Introduction to ...
We were very happy to have Art Against Knives graffiti our shutters! Together we organised a weekend long drawing, painting and doing graffiti workshop alongside Dan from Sweet Combination who pr...
Sweet Combination music jams are a platform for expression, group practice, experimentation, and musical evolution within the community. The ethos of the jams is to cultivate a focal point in...
https://www.clear-village.org/sweet-combination-jam-sessions
On 2nd of April we had the pleasure of hosting a beat boxing performance by David X by request of a large number of teenagers in the area. Aside from enjoying an out of the ordinary concert, Davi...
On Thursday, 15th March we were happy to host the exhibition ‘A day in the life of the Regent Estate’, attended by many local residents as well as art lovers from the nearby area. This was th...
https://www.clear-village.org/photo-exhibition-regent-estate
CLEAR VILLAGE founder and strategy director Thomas Ermacora gives his vision on CLEAR VILLAGE in 2012. “CLEAR VILLAGE is growing more and more roots in England and abroad. Our projects in Atina...
https://www.clear-village.org/thomas-ermacora-2012-welcome-note
Freelance journalist, researcher and editor Laura Sevier has written an insightful article in The Ecologist about The Walled Kitchen Garden. The open-aired Lab took place in Bedford’s Park...
https://www.clear-village.org/the-walled-kitchen-garden-featured-in-the-ecologist
Dear Clear-Villagers: 2011 is closing soon and it’s been an exceptional year full of travels, adventures in and out of offices, and joining forces with great...
https://www.clear-village.org/merry-christmas-from-clear-village
DYNAMIC DIALOGUES CONTINUE Our project in Helsingborg constitutes a community driven cultural engine! Back in February and March we collaborated with the Helsingborg City ...
Perfect weather arrived in East London just in time for our Walled Garden Lab in Bedfords Park, near Romford. Working with the Havering Borough Council and Friends of Bedford Park, Clear Village ...
https://www.clear-village.org/breaking-ground-in-the-walled-garden
Join forces for the walled kitchen garden a CLEAR VILLAGE project in cooperation with Imogen Heap Join us for an Open-Air Lab near London on September 22-28th! We invite all Clear-Village friends...
https://www.clear-village.org/invitation-to-the-next-clear-village-project
Join us or for an Open-Air Lab near London on september 22-28th! We invite all Clear-Village friends, members, experts and partners to participate in its first open-air lab near Romford (Essex, U...
https://www.clear-village.org/join-forces-for-the-walled-kitchen-garden
Conversazioni con il Futuro di Atina a CLEAR VILLAGE project in Mid Italy After our ‘Dynamic Dialogues’ process in Helsingborg and the ‘Repairing Broken Communities’ well-being analysis i...
https://www.clear-village.org/clear-village-newsletter-august-2011
REPAIRING BROKEN COMMUNITIES CLEAR VILLAGE well-being analysis in North-Germany In April, CLEAR VILLAGE has been part of an urban regeneration project in a deprived area in Kiel, Germany, by bri...
https://www.clear-village.org/clear-village-in-germany-may-2011