Liverpool creative community turns out for Fab Friday

Representatives from Liverpool’s creative community visited the John Lennon Art and Design Building on Friday to mark the first year of Fab Lab Liverpool, a creative resource which aims to develop opportunities to share the benefits of using new technologies.

Fab Lab Liverpool spun out from Liverpool School of Art and Design’s digital fabrication lab, which has been a student resource since 2010. The lab is used by students to create professional-standard models and innovative artworks using the latest technology, including 3D printers and scanners, laser cutters and CNC machines. 

One year ago, the Fab Lab Manager, Lol Baker, officially joined the International Fab Lab Association and Fab Lab Liverpool was born. 

The School has big ambitions for Fab Lab Liverpool, including working with external partners such as Baltic Creative, DoES Liverpool, Constellations and a range of schools and technical colleges to bring the technologies and their applications to a wider audience. The first ‘pop up Lab’ event occurred in the Baltic Creative in March, with more planned in the future. Lol also recently took the mobile Fab Lab Liverpool to MakeFest at Liverpool Central Library, where members of the public tried their hand at printing 3D objects and body scanning.

Commenting on the ambitions of Fab Lab Liverpool, Lol said:

"We’ve been serving LJMU students for over five years, and by joining the International Fab Lab, we’re engaging with local and global networks, developing a cluster of labs to create opportunities to share best practice, and open up opportunities for students, staff and partners. Our cluster so far incorporates Barcelona, Baltimore, Belfast, Beijing and Delhi, with more to follow. It’s a very exciting time to be fab."

Fab Lab Liverpool is currently working on some exciting projects with partners, including a series of pop up labs at maker festivals around Liverpool, and work with other areas of LJMU, including the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology and the Face Lab.

LIV-BCN exhibition opens

An exhibition of graphic arts celebrating the relationships between the cities of Liverpool and Barcelona opened its doors on Friday, and runs until 24 July. 

LIV-BCN is the first independent festival between the two cities and features work from Liverpool-based artist, John Wai and a selection of LJMU Graphic Design and Illustration students, plus work from Barcelona-based graphic artist, Mariandiamentes.

The exhibition is showing at the Exhibition Research Centre, 10am – 6pm daily (closed weekends).