Lol Baker

Lol is a support officer for our School of Art and Design with a lead role in running the Fab Lab – a digital fabrication laboratory that provides access for students, staff and partners to the tools and knowledge to educate, innovate and invent using technology and digital fabrication, allowing anyone to make almost anything.

He is a champion of supporting creative talent in Liverpool and uses his knowledge to nurture our students’ skills and to work with creative partners across the city.

Lol features in our ‘Humans of LJMU’ series in collaboration with the ‘Humans of Liverpool’ social media account, sharing the stories of the people who make our city, communities and university the vibrant, inclusive place it is in celebration of our bicentenary year.

In his interview he reflects on his obsession with Liverpool heritage and how in his role he helps to provide hands-on learning for the next generation of creative minds.

Lol’s ‘Humans of LJMU’ interview

“I’m obsessed with Liverpool’s heritage. Liverpool used to make a lot of pottery, and they decided to make their own Chinese porcelain called Liverpool porcelain. It had a certain colour, and they called it Fazakerley palette. I think about how we can reimagine that. Say we take that colour palette, bring it into Photoshop and start branding things with it - bring it back.

“We were also big on sweets, I personally think we invented the chocolate eclair sweet. Maybe not the cake, but the sweet. It’s something I often argue with people about. In the late 1800s, we used to have a whole village that made jam in Aintree called Hartley Village. But it was flattened along with a lot of our industry in the 1980s.

“We also used to make jeans. I always say I bought the last pair that were made. They were called Flemings, in Walton, and the badge was a Union Jack with Stars and Stripes, and they said ‘made in Liverpool’. They’d measure you and tailor your jeans in the shop, put it in a brown paper bag, tied up with string.

“People call us Liverpudlians or Scousers, but we were originally called Dicky Sams before that. Dicky comes from dockers, and Sam comes from a strong connection to America through the port. The city back then was a real melting pot of different cultures and inspirations.

“I love thinking about those old-school entrepreneurs sitting on the docks, seeing things come in from all over and being inspired. I see Liverpool as a making city. People see us as manufacturers, but those ideas aren’t ours: cars and mass-produced parts. We’re working on a project here in the design school to encourage that entrepreneurial spirit and get more people ‘making’ rather than just producing.

“At our fabrication lab, FABlab - it even sounds scouse, doesn’t it - the possibilities for what you can create are endless through 3D printing and other creative tools. Everything we do is about hands-on learning, how you learn through making. The world has changed, and we don’t know what those next jobs will be. But what we can do is give our students and school visitors those core skills and confidence to adapt. I think life is all about problem-solving, no matter what you do.”