Looking Sideways

In this episode, I’m visiting three people all working in maker education. My first stop is at the Shenzhen American International School in the Shekou district of Shenzhen, to meet Carrie Leung, who teaches a maker-based curriculum there. Students experimenting with motors at SAIS Just down the road from SAIS is Steamhead Makerspace. Set up by James Simpson, it’s a space where a community of teachers can learn from each other. <figcaption class="w

In this episode, I’m visiting three people all working in maker education. My first stop is at the Shenzhen American International School in the Shekou district of Shenzhen, to meet Carrie Leung, who teaches a maker-based curriculum there. Just down the road from SAIS is Steamhead Makerspace. Set up by James Simpson, it’s a space where … Continue reading "Shenzhen Special 6 – Maker Ed"

In this episode, we focus on design – and in particular, how designers help bring products to life through Shenzhen’s vast network of suppliers and manufacturers. Shenzhen is a destination for anyone who manufactures electronics products, whether they’re Apple, or a hardware startup that’s just cruised through its crowdfunding goal. Some of the bigger manufacturers have all the design or engineering expertise they need in-house, but many look outside to bring in skills they can’t cover from their own teams. That’s where my two guests today come in. They both work for product design companies: Innozen Design, and Artop Group – working at different scales, but providing many of the same services to clients from China and overseas. We talk about how products get made in Shenzhen, the rise of the Chinese consumer, and the new power of Chinese brands. Michael Zheng, Innozen Design <img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" data-attachment-id="2985" data-permalink="https://andrewsleigh.com/2018/01/29/shenzhen-05/image-14/" data-orig-file="https://andrewsleigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-14.png" data-orig-size="1024,683" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="image-14" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://andrewsleigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-14.png?w=800" data-large-file="https://andrewsleigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-14

In this episode, we focus on design – and in particular, how designers help bring products to life through Shenzhen’s vast network of suppliers and manufacturers. Shenzhen is a destination for anyone who manufactures electronics products, whether they’re Apple, or a hardware startup that’s just cruised through it’s crowdfunding goal. Some of the bigger manufacturers have … Continue reading "Shenzhen Special 5: Product Design"

Violet Su In China, the term makerspace can mean many different things; some unrecognisable to people used to a European or American use of that word. But Chaihuo X.Factory would be familiar to any maker coming from outside China, with a co-working desk space, machine shop and woodshop, and an enviable selection of tools. <figcaption cl

In China, the term makerspace can mean many different things; some unrecognisable to people used to a European or American use of that word. But Chaihuo X.Factory would be familiar to any maker coming from outside China, with a co-working desk space, machine shop and woodshop, and an enviable selection of tools. Chaihuo is perhaps most … Continue reading "Shenzhen Special 4 – Violet Su at Chaihuo X.Factory"

In this episode, I speak with Vicky Xie, who’s the global cooperation director of SZOIL (Shenzhen Open Innovation Lab). As well as running a fablab, they help foreign companies plug into the local supply chain, helping them understand how to work with factories, component manufacturers and designers in Shenzhen. We talk about open source in … Continue reading "Shenzhen Special 3 – Vicky Xie at SZOIL"

Vicky Xie In this episode, I speak with Vicky Xie, who’s the global cooperation director of SZOIL (Shenzhen Open Innovation Lab). As well as running a fablab, they help foreign companies plug into the local supply chain, helping them understand how to work with factories, component manufacturers and designers in Shenzhen. We talk about open source in China, copycat products and the way Chinese makers and manufacturers embrace the free market. In particular, we focus on Shanzhai, an approach to technology development which has a complicated past, but is now credited with fuelling Shenzhen’s rapid innovation culture. Links SZOIL Shanzhai, Gongban and Gongmo Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China This podcast series is part of the British Council’s Hello Shenzhen programme. It is a Lighthouse production. Lighthouse is an arts and culture agency based in Brighton in the UK, producing, supporting and presenting new art, film, music, design and games. Music is by Blank & Kytt</

In the 2nd episode of this special series reporting from Shenzhen, the world centre for electronics manufacturing, I speak with Christina Zhang, the co-founder of Kittenbot. Kittenbot make educational robot kits with motors, sensors and onboard computers, all built using open-source hardware and software. They’re built on the popular Arduino platform, and can be controlled … Continue reading "Shenzhen Special 2 — Christina Zhang from Kittenbot"

Christina Zhang, founder of Kittenbot In the 2nd episode of this special series reporting from Shenzhen, the world centre for electronics manufacturing, I speak with Christina Zhang, the co-founder of Kittenbot. Kittenbot make educational robot kits with motors, sensors and onboard computers, all built using open-source hardware and software. They’re built on the popular Arduino platform, and can be controlled using Scratch, a simple programming tool used in schools around the world to teach kids the fundamentals of programming with a friendly, drag-and-drop interface. But Kittenbot kits go further, also allowing users to programme them using Python, a more advanced programming language used by professional developers for ‘real-world’ tasks. In this interview, we talk about why Christina helped set up Kittenbot, the special appeal of Shenzhen, and the secret of survival in the city’s fiercely competitive technology market. Links Kittenbot on Taobao, the Chinese ecommerce site Programming languages and platforms: Scratch, Arduino, Python Chris Anderson – Makers: The New Industria

Welcome to the first in a special series of Looking Sideways focusing on maker culture in Shenzhen, the world centre for electronics manufacturing. Over the last 30 years, this city has grown to a population of 15-20 million people, who’ve flocked here to work in factories, and the associated supply chain, or start businesses in design, … Continue reading "Shenzhen Special 1 — Maker Faire"

Shenzhen Maker Faire Welcome to the first in a special series of Looking Sideways focusing on maker culture in Shenzhen, the world centre for electronics manufacturing. Over the last 30 years, this city has grown to a population of 15-20 million people, who’ve flocked here to work in factories, and the associated supply chain, or start businesses in design, manufacturing, packaging,  distribution, and more. It’s a city of making, on a grand scale. Most commonly, it’s known as the home of Foxconn et al: huge factories, themselves often the size of small towns, and home to hundreds of thousands of workers; providing full facilities, including dormitories, banks, restaurants, hospitals, even TV stations. But in the last decade, it’s also become a magnet for a different kind of maker: the hardware startups and the hackers from across the world who come here for the design and manufacturing expertise, the concentrated and accessible supply chain, and the promise that here, they can bring their products to market faster, cheaper, and more successfully than anywhere else. In this series, I’ll be interviewing some of the makers I met on a recent trip, as part of the British Council’s Hello Shenzhen programme. This episode was recorded live at Shenzhen Maker Faire 2017. Makers featured Maker T, and hi

This is a trailer for a new series of Looking Sideways coming direct from Shenzhen, the centre of the global electronics manufacturing industry. I’ll be interviewing makers to tell their stories, and find out what makes Shenzhen’s Maker culture so special. I hope you’ll join me. This series of Looking Sideways is a Lighthouse production.

This is a trailer for a new series of Looking Sideways coming direct from Shenzhen, the centre of the global electronics manufacturing industry. I’ll be interviewing makers to tell their stories, and find out what makes Shenzhen’s Maker culture so special. I hope you’ll join me. This series of Looking Sideways is a Lighthouse production.

In this special episode of Looking Sideways, I talk with writer, editor and internet pioneer, Kevin Kelly. He’s just published a new book, The Inevitable, which draws out a broad sweep of trends that he believes will shape our future. The ideas are set out with the confidence that you’d expect from a book with such … Continue reading "7 — Kevin Kelly"

In this special episode of Looking Sideways, I talk with writer, editor and internet pioneer, Kevin Kelly. He’s just published a new book, The Inevitable, which draws out a broad sweep of trends that he believes will shape our future. The ideas are set out with the confidence that you’d expect from a book with such a bold title. And while Kelly’s work has been very influential to me over the last 20-odd years, I found much in it that I disagreed with. So this was a great opportunity to understand his perspective, and in particular his optimism, better. In this interview, we cover his formative years travelling, writing, and getting online in the 1980s, and how these experiences shaped his thinking. He talks about the differences between protopian and utopian thinking. And he extols the virtues of both maniacal leadership and collaborative, “socialist” technology. We also cover one of the most deeply embedded forces in technology today – data collection – and consider how smarter data-driven services can be developed without allowing unbalanced surveillance states to emerge in their wake. Show notes Kevin Kelly online His book: The Inevitable  (Amazon UK) Kevin’s current project: True Films His documentary recommendation for makers: Tiny Maker Assembly Sheffield – 31 August 2016 This series of Looking Sideways is a Lighthouse production.

Today’s guest, Kazys Varnelis, helps me take a look at today’s maker culture through the lens of the Arts and Crafts Movement, as well as the many DIY and counter-culture movements that sprang up in the second half of the 20th Century. We talk about making as a startup culture, and making as a form of … Continue reading "6 — Kazys Varnelis"

Today’s guest, Kazys Varnelis, helps me take a look at today’s maker culture through the lens of the Arts and Crafts Movement, as well as the many DIY and counter-culture movements that sprang up in the second half of the 20th Century. We talk about making as a startup culture, and making as a form of everyday life. And we spend some time thinking about the things that don’t seem to count as making, from cooking and gardening, to renaissance fairs and fanzines. Finally, I encourage Kazys to engage in some reckless speculation about what the future might hold for making cultures, and he nobly obliges. Kazys is a lecturer at the School of Architecture, University of Limerick and also teaches at Columbia University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the Director of the Network Architecture Lab and co-founder of the conceptual architecture/media group AUDC. He’s also an artist, and editor and writer of many books. This episode riffs off an article published in the New Yorker in 2014 by Evgeny Morozov, called Making It. If you haven’t at least skimmed that piece, I’d recommend doing that first, then coming back to this. It’s all right, we’ll wait. Show notes The Arts and Crafts Movement The Evgeny Morozov article William Morris Karl Marx on alienated production Henri Lefebvre on everyday life Horatio Alger myth Stewart Brand Chris Anderson’s book, Makers: The New Industrial Revolution Mark Hatch’s book, The Maker Movement Manifesto Techshop Manuel Castells’ book, <a href="htt

Thomas Lommée is a designer who maintains the OpenStructures project, a “construction system where everyone designs for everyone.” OpenStructures is an experiment that explores what happens when people design objects using a common open standard — allowing for objects to be reconfigured or adapted over time, and parts to be swapped out, exchanged or added to create new objects. It’s like a participatory Lego that is open to anyone, and can be used to make anything from a toy to a lamp; a kitchen appliance to a living structure. We talk about the surprising things that happen when you can reconfigure the world around you; possible futures for open design systems, and the value of  designing in public – when objects ‘come alive’. Along the way, we ask how designers get paid in a digital economy, how is power and reward shared out between platform owners and content creators, how can complex objects be made out of primitive grids, and what is the role of makerspaces, libraries and other public institutions in a world of open participatory design. Show notes OpenStructures Stewart Brand: How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built From Brand, layering of buildings: A building in order of its permanence Provenance An OpenStructures bike This episode will be broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM on Sunday 20 March. To listen on Resonance, check out the show page. This series of Looking Sideways is a Lighthouse production for Resonance 104.4 FM.

Thomas Lommée is a designer who maintains the OpenStructures project, a “construction system where everyone designs for everyone.” OpenStructures is an experiment that explores what happens when people design objects using a common open standard — allowing for objects to be reconfigured or adapted over time, and parts to be swapped out, exchanged or added to create new objects. It’s … Continue reading "5 — Thomas Lommée"