Category Archives: material culture

Wearable Tech or Full Manual Tech?

Posted on June 3, 2013 by john v willshire

I was sitting with Mark & Snowy earlier, talking about a wee project we’re plotting, and this thought crept up on me around “Wearable Tech”. The line of thinking, in it’s very infancy of course, is this. Everyone is making … Continue reading →

Posted in design, material culture, rivetings, technology | 2 Comments

Smithery doubles to make Artefact Cards shrink

Posted on May 20, 2013 by john v willshire

So, for the summer Smithery has become two people… I’d like you all to say hello to Fraser Hamilton, who’s going into the final year of his Industrial Design degree at Loughborough in the Autumn. He’s just finished up a … Continue reading →

Posted in artefactcards, design, economics, Making, material culture, rivetings | 13 Comments

The Do Lectures: notes from a field

Posted on May 8, 2013 by john v willshire

I was lucky enough to be at The Do Lectures Start Up the other weekend. There are many stories to be shared from that another day, especially around the ‘start up bit’. But for now, I thought I’d share this … Continue reading →

Posted in artefactcards, cooperation, Making, material culture, technology | 1 Comment

The Perils of Inadvertently Making a Cuturematic

Posted on April 9, 2013 by john v willshire

I’ve been reading Grant McCraken’s Culturematic this week.  I met Grant at an event last year, after Mark introduced us, and insisted that I showed Grant some Artefact Cards. “That’s a Culturematic” said Grant, holding the cards. Having not read … Continue reading →

Posted in artefactcards, digital, drawing, Making, marketing, material culture, technology, thinking | 1 Comment

A Factory Visit, and the Future of Print

Posted on February 28, 2013 by john v willshire

This week, I visited the Axminster Printing Co. with Tim Milne, to see where the Artefact Cards are made.  And to meet Keith Rockett, who runs the business, and whom I’ve only ever spoken with on the phone. I took … Continue reading →

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The Sketchnote Handbook by @rohdesign – a video review

Posted on February 7, 2013 by john v willshire

(This is the first proper attempt at the second of this year’s three projects… all thoughts and ideas on how to do this sort of thing better are most welcome.) Here’s a wee video I filmed last night about The … Continue reading →

Posted in Artefact, artefactcards, drawing, Making, material culture, random inspiration, thinking, work | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Chris Thorpe & My Family’s Axe

Posted on January 31, 2013 by john v willshire

I’m a big fan of what Chris Thorpe is doing with The Flexiscale Company; scanning real life rare steam trains and their trucks, and creating scale models of demand through Shapeways. We has the measure of hearing him talk about … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D printing, digital, economics, internet, Making, material culture, random inspiration, technology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment