Blog (July 2020)

Materials Up Close & Personal: ACRYLIC

17-7-20

Materials Up Close & Personal: ACRYLIC

This week we gaze into the hidden depths of ACRYLIC, a material we can thank for pearly dentures, prosthetic eyes and the perspex sneeze screens structuring our post-lockdown shopping experiences. Read on to find out what Cardi B’s glorious nail art and David Hockney’s technicolour scenes of Californian suburbia have in common, and why ‘tickling the ivories’ should really be called ‘tickling the acrylics’. More

Institute of Making: Seventh Year Report

15-7-20

Institute of Making: Seventh Year Report

Our yearly report shines a light on the projects, people, materials and making processes that were central to the Institute of Making in the past twelve months and summarises key activities of our seventh year of operation at UCL. More

Materials Up Close & Personal: WAX

03-7-20

Materials Up Close & Personal: WAX

This week’s Materials Library blog post gets lyrical about WAX, exploring its far-reaching and global relationship with divinity, art and fashion, examining the ancient roots of your waxed hairdo, probing why you shouldn’t be so hasty to remove your earwax, and delving into why vegans might want to be careful with their lemons. More