Looking Sideways

Looking Sideways

By Andrew SleighTechnologyEducationArtsDesign
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Looking Sideways episodes

  • 5 — Thomas Lommée

    Thomas Lommée is a designer who maintains the OpenStructures project, a “construction system where everyone designs for everyone.”

    OpenStructures is an experiment that explores what happens when people design objects using a common open standard — allowing for objects to be reconfigured or adapted over time, and parts to be swapped out, exchanged or added to create new objects. It’s like a participatory Lego that is open to anyone, and can be used to make anything from a toy to a lamp; a kitchen appliance to a living structure.

    We talk about the surprising things that happen when you can reconfigure the world around you; possible futures for open design systems, and the value of  designing in public – when objects ‘come alive’.

    Along the way, we ask how designers get paid in a digital economy, how is power and reward shared out between platform owners and content creators, how can complex objects be made out of primitive grids, and what is the role of makerspaces, libraries and other public institutions in a world of open participatory design.

    Show notes
    • OpenStructures
    • Stewart Brand: How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built
    • From Brand, layering of buildings: A building in order of its permanence
    • Provenance
    • An OpenStructures bike

      • This episode will be broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM on Sunday 20 March. To listen on Resonance, check out the show page.

      This series of Looking Sideways is a Lighthouse production for Resonance 104.4 FM.

      Looking Sideways is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://andrewsleigh.com/

      57 min
    • 4 — Sara Hendren
      This week, I talk with Sara Hendren about the role of art in engineering and design, and how we can make use of unresolved questions, ambiguity and productive uncertainty, to make things that better serve human needs. Sara teaches socially-engaged design practices, adaptive and assistive technology design, and disability studies for engineers-in-training in her role … Continue reading "4 — Sara Hendren"
      58 min
    • 3 — Chris Schwarz
      This episode features the woodworker, writer and publisher Chris Schwarz. Chris runs the small publishing company, Lost Art Press, which specialises in finely made books on hand-working practices. He uncovers historical texts that show us forgotten ways of working, and also publishes new work, such as The Anarchist’s Design Book, that show the continuing relevance … Continue reading "3 — Chris Schwarz"
      58 min
    • 2 — Will Holman and Pascal Anson
      In this episode I talk to two guests who share an interest in remaking the world around them, First, we head over to Baltimore, to meet Will Holman, whose book, Guerrilla Furniture Design, is a handbook for the resourceful, nomadic maker. Then we come back to London, to meet Pascal Anson, a designer who specialises … Continue reading "2 — Will Holman and Pascal Anson"
      57 min
    • 1 — Deb Chachra
      We talk about the work of the pioneering scientist, feminist and educator, Ursula Franklin, whose book, The Real World of Technology, helps us understand how things are made in modern systems of manufacturing, and how the technology of manufacturing has changed relations in the workplace. We also talk about what motivates people to make; mundane … Continue reading "1 — Deb Chachra"
      58 min
    • Looking Sideways Series 2
      Hello, and welcome back to Looking Sideways. I took a long hiatus after the first series, but now I’m back with a new series of interviews focusing on making. In this series, I set out to explore the world of making from the individual craftsperson, to the mass manufacture of  products. I wanted to understand the … Continue reading "Looking Sideways Series 2"
      1 min
    • 11 – Mitch Altman
      In a special episode of Looking Sideways, I talk with inventor, hackspace evangelist and all-round legend, Mitch Altman, about how he became a maker, the origins of the pioneering Noisebridge hackerspace in San Francisco, the enduring appeal of the soldering iron, how to start your own hackerspace … and of course, the importance of doing … Continue reading "11 – Mitch Altman"
      1 hr 3 min

    About Looking Sideways

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    Conversations about maker culture, design, craft, and technology