Design Factory Manchester launches
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Standfirst
Design Factory Manchester is an innovation hub at Manchester School of Art. It is a vehicle for practitioners, researchers, and students to drive sustainable development in communities within and beyond the city.
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The first project is underway, Creative Campus in Stockport with the theme ‘Repurpose.’ Funded by the Arts Council, it involves the application of ‘design thinking and doing.’ Creative businesses and social enterprises are coming together to actively develop sustainable ways of collectively thriving.
Dr Paul Micklethwaite is a Reader in Design Innovation and is leading the Design Factory initiative. He explained: “It is part of a global network. We are one of very few in the UK. They are engines to drive innovation, knowledge exchange and creativity by engaging with communities, businesses and the third sector.
“Stockport Creative Campus is one of our first projects and has been funded with £2.5 million from the Arts Council. It will take student projects and research into the town with the potential to positively change its culture.”
It is part of a global network. We are one of very few in the UK.
Paul Bason, Reader in Digital and Creative Industries at Manchester School of Art is leading the activation of the project. With town centres changing due to the closure of big brand stores, he explained how creative arts can give high streets a new purpose.
He said: “If a town centre is not being used for retail, there are many other activities such as galleries, studios, festivals and innovative workspaces that can bring quality of life to a town. This can also provide employment and powerful means of expression for the people that live there.”
The University is working with Stockport MBC, Madlab, FutureEverything and In4.0 Ltd partners to deliver the project. This is providing the town with benefits including digital literacy training and arts commissions.
This can also provide employment and powerful means of expression for the people that live there.
Dr Gemma Potter is a research associate on the project. Her role involves identifying how activity from Manchester Met can be taken into Stockport and brought to life.
Dr Potter added: “This has seen over 300 students engaging in projects in the town since the start of the year. Under one Unit X project, students have developed proposals for interventions that could culturally activate the town. Architecture students have also been involved in developing briefs for houses featuring a creative space near the town centre.”
In the same way that Manchester is a beacon of creativity, Stockport has all the attributes to become a creative and cultural hub with its own unique identity.
Under one Unit X project, students have developed proposals for interventions that could culturally activate the town.
The Creative Campus project is acting as a catalyst for this by cultivating the creativity that already exists in the town. Data suggest that a high number of people living in Stockport work in the creative sector but travel out of the town to utilise their skills. In the long term, the project aims to provide employment in the area for these workers and creative graduates.
The ethos of the Design Factory is to have a participatory approach to designing innovation which is social and inclusive. There are currently two other key programmes.
One is exploring alternative modes of enterprise, involving a hackathon with Co-operatives UK. People will come together over two days to explore homelessness, housing and related social issues to seek workable solutions using technology.
The third strand is the Creative Climate Action programme, exploring how the creative sector can respond more meaningfully to the challenges of climate change via increased climate literacy and more confident climate action.
The University is hosting the Design Council’s Design for Planet Festival in November. This brings all three programmes together under the theme of ‘Planet Positive Business.’
The aim is to show that design can help businesses prosper at the same time as helping the planet. Businesses, government leaders and design experts are coming together to discover how design can achieve both economic and environmental good.
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