ED: Isn’t there some kind of theoretical
knowledge that differentiates craft from
engineering?
ZL: “But there’s something that I would
describe as craft engineering that is the
missing moment. It’s the thing that’s
potentially between, for want of a better
stereotype, the data sheet and playing
around. What’s the space between those?
The knowledge that comes from a type of
practice that’s to do with an experience
of it, and the type of learning that you get
when someone shows you – you have
a go, you try it – and then you go to the
point of mastering it and being able to
do it that really sums up a craft practice.
The ultimate maker is someone who has
craft knowledge, science knowledge and
engineering knowledge.
“When we founded the Institute we
weren’t at UCL. When the opportunity
arose, it was really from the vision of
the engineering dean at the time and
Weighing up cubes of
tungsten and human
hair, both taken from
the Materials Library
the whole faculty; they could see how
engineering has something to contribute to
our big notion of what making is, and that
they saw that as something they thought
would represent a side of what engineering
should be, and the conversations that
engineering should be having.
“So at UCL we are a cross-faculty
institute, which basically means that
anyone at UCL can become a member, so
that can be staff or student from across
any department. Although we sit under
the wing of engineering, we face out to
the whole university. Here, an architecture
student meets a ne arts student meets a
medic, meets a chemical engineer, meets
a computer scientist meets a French
historian. There is such a wide range of
practices that it shows that they have
something to contribute to a bigger story,
but also that they are not in isolation;
it’s not a fair re ection of a true type of
practice to think it just exists in isolation.
Zoe Laughlin in brief
What’s the fi rst thing you can
remember making?
ZL: “I remember my rst toolkit when I was
really young, and it was a proper tiny tool
roll with real tools in; they were just mini. I
was making things all the time, obviously,
but I distinctly remember when I hammered
a nail into some wood. And then, within a
moment, a bigger bit of wood with a thinner
bit coming out of the top was a cricket bat.
I was probably ve years old.”
How would you defi ne
good design?
ZL: “When you realise care has been
taken. That someone has taken care to do
something and it’s better than it needs to
be. That’s good.”
What’s the machine you want
most in the making lab now?
ZL: “Can I include tool? Because literally
on top of my to-order list is a pipe cutter,
because I really love cutting things in
half. My thesis is in providing that crosssection,
you see the thing in a way that
you’ve never seen it before. But in terms
of machinery, right now we can’t do any
serious metalwork; we don’t have welding.
That’s a hole in the heart. Also important
is a foodsafe experimental kitchen. Edible
materials are a whole different class of
materials that we’re really into here, and we
do a lot of work around, but we can’t use
edible materials and then eat with them.”
(see also selected tool list, p12)
How did you get involved in the
Institute? Were you a founder?
ZL: “Yes. In some respects it’s a life’s
work, it’s an expression of a type of
practice and type of approach. My baby
teeth are in here in the Materials Library;
not given to the tooth fairy but kept. Mark
Miodownik, Martin Conreen and I are
the three founders. Fundamentally
we are three friends that liked
spending time together,
having lunch, and
cooking up bonkers
projects, and one
begets another
begets another.”
www.ied.org.uk 11
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