╳ Institute of Making is the coolest and most multidisciplinary ‘research club’ for makers and those interested in the made world: from makers of molecules to makers of buildings, synthetic skin to spacecraft, soup to clothes, furniture to cities. Its mission is to provide all makers with a creative home in which to innovate, contemplate and understand all aspects of materials and promote, inspire and celebrate their relationship to making. At the heart of the Institute of Making is the Materials Library –a repository of some of the most extraordinary materials on earth, gathered together not only for scientific interest, but also for their ability to fire the imagination and advance conceptualisation. The Institute of Making, and its wondrous Materials Library, will be housed shortly in the east wing of the Somerset House, newly purchased by King’s College London, and will open its doors in Autumn 2011 
╳ The story behind the design of their new website is as ‘off centre’ and kooky as their wordmark. “A month or so ago Zoe mocked up what she called an ‘analogue website’ using sliding panels of paper and presented them to Ten4 Design who set about making her cardboard dream a reality.” Artist and maker Zoe Laughlin (pictured below) is a co-founder/director of the Institute of Making and the Materials Library project. She holds an MA from Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design and obtained a PhD in Materials within the Division of Engineering, King's College London. Working at the interface of the science, art, craft and design of materials, her work ranges from formal experiments with matter, to materials consultancy and large-scale public exhibitions and events with partners including Tate Modern, the Hayward Gallery, the V&A and the Wellcome Collection. Her particular areas of interest are currently The Sound of Materials, The Taste of Materials and The Performativity of Matter, with outputs ranging from theatrical demonstration lectures to the making of instruments and features on both radio and television.
╳ Cool and very avant-garde, Institute of Making are certainly an inspiration to all of us material-lovers.
╳ Images (top to bottom)
╳ Institute of Making's wordmark
╳ Creative Director Zoe Laughlin's website sketches
╳ Zoe Laughlin
╳ To follow the Institute of Making’s adventures in materials-land please follow the link below.
www.instituteofmaking.org.uk
