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 and making at Workshop 44. The plan for the day was simple; get together to share, exchange and have some fun while designing for the outside space, baking bread and discussing micro-grants for hyper-local projects.
The day was a wonderful success, and it started, as all good work events do, with coffee. Get the donated coffee machines working, then find the right-sized filters and ground coffee. Our fearless intern took up the call with the help of others including none-other than grammy-award winner, Imogen Heap, and world renowned artist, Alexa Meade, and the black-gold soon flowed to ward off the morning chill.
Meanwhile, our expert heritage grain curator, archaeobotonist, thatcher and miller, John Letts, worked his way to London through the weekend morning rush from Oxford to join our master baker, who’d come straight from a graveyard shift in Brighton, with bicycle panniers and a tag-along trolley loaded down with baking pans, dough and flour. Soon, with elders looking on, a number of tweens joined lessons in milling grain, which they then carried to the baker who in turn taught them how to mix and shape their dough for a traditional French loaf.
We worked with master carpenters on the design of furnishings that could be set up within the workshop or just outside, while others organised the space and ensured everyone had what they needed to “make”.
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Rosa, a local tenant looking to set up a small business, fired-up grilled chicken in a Carribbean-style jerk sauce to make a scrumptious lunch complete with coleslaw and salads. She swore us to silence regarding the recipe, but we were strongly tempted to write it down, Slugworth-like, because the flavor had that kind of creative magic! The grill’s fragrance brought dozens from the community, including a group of young men, hungry for the legendary cuisine and curious what might come from all the goings-on. Reluctant at first, it seemed that the enthusiasm and antics of the kids with baker’s talent for bread and pizza in the large convection oven, and the Carribbean feast together with common care for improvement, began to provide a space where ideas and conversation led to the beginnings of partnership.
As the furniture design phase moved to production, young and old tenants penciled-in their ideas for making their square and answered questions such as, «What kind of light would you want to see here?» and «Who would you like to meet here?». And, our master carpenter started construction and assembly of the benches while we worked with the local TRA regarding design criteria. As evening fell, the workshop geared for a gallery event representing the works of fifty Parisian street artists inside the workshop.
Tenants young and old, small business venturers like the cycle shop and the African-Caribbean Networks UK founder, Archie Graham, as well as the teams from CIVA and CLEAR VILLAGE, all felt the day was a success; we had accomplished the tasks, but most importantly, we shared what we knew on a day of fun to create a stronger space and well-being within the community.