Stories of Change, Utopia Works

By Hannah Barker | May 13, 2016 |

Stories of Change, Utopia Works

Due to a series of fortunate events, the guys from Bullet Creative found themselves on the doorstep of Banks Mill last month, looking for a letterpress studio. Bullet were scouting out the impressive Silk Mill out for an upcoming event when, by chance, they came across The Smallprint Company.

After a whistle-stop tour of the studio we found ourselves discussing workshops for a project funded by the AHRC and led by the University of Sheffield in conjunction with the Open University, Bullet and the Silk Mill.

And so onto Utopia Works…

“Stories of Change project aims to help to revive stalled public and political conversations about energy by looking in a fresh way at its past, present and future.”

“A factory, ‘works’, of utopian thinking and making – at the site of the world’s first factory, the Silk Mill in Derby. The AHRC Connected Communities Festival 2016 takes place during the quincentenary year of Thomas More’s Utopia.”

“The Utopia Works event will comprise an Energy Hack; ‘Utopia Press’, a pamphleteering workshop; ‘Utopia Walks’, a tour of the Silk Mill archive of energy and making; and ‘Utopia Talks’, a programme of discussions on how utopia works: re-imagining the future of energy in work, rest and play.”

Gorm, Kathy, Renata and Julia visited us for a second time recently to enjoy a morning planning the Utopia press experience. Photos below!