Using our Bloomsbury & Stratford Workshops

The Institute of Making Bloomsbury is a friendly and inclusive compact multi-disciplinary workshop space. Here, our original Materials Library and a wide range of tools and equipment share one 250m² open-plan space, enabling you to get involved in a plethora of making processes and materials experimentation in one cosy workshop.

Bloomsbury is the perfect space for smaller-scale, test-focused projects, where members work in close proximity to each other. Often, you’ll find yourself making something completely different to the person next to you, inspiring different ways of seeing, doing and making, whilst also encouraging collaboration and cross-disciplinary problem solving.

Bloomsbury is the original home of our Materials Library: a collection of some of the most wondrous materials on earth, gathered from sheds, kitchens, workshops, labs and factories around the world. You’ll find shelves, cabinets and drawers filled to the brim with lumps, chunks and jars full of familiar materials and their more unusual counterparts, which invite you to wobble, sniff, scrape and prod your way around the collection.

The Institute of Making Stratford is a large 1000m² workshop space, containing an open-plan Studio and multi-materials General Workshop, as well as individual rooms for making processes in ceramics, metalworking, 3D printing & electronics, laser cutting, CNC milling and experimental food processes. Designed to expand the depth and breadth of what we can do in Bloomsbury (whilst also maintaining our experimental, hands-on, celebratory approach to all aspects of materials and processes), this space is perfect for larger, longer-term projects that require more equipment, higher precision or greater complexity.

In our Stratford space, the Ceramics Room, Laser Cutting Room, 3D Printing & Electronics Room and General Workshop are open to members for drop-in access. Our Metal Room is also open from October 2025 for drop-in use, one day a week. Our brand-new CNC Room and Experimental Kitchen (which will provide members with the exciting opportunity to work with edible materials in a food-safe environment for the first time) are now open for members’ projects, following consultation with a technician. Keep an eye on our newsletter for more information on how to access these spaces, and check the member section of our website for specific room opening dates and hours.

Our Stratford-based Materials Library is expanding and developing as 2025 progresses. Our wondrous Stratford handling collection will be displayed here from floor to ceiling in its own room, spilling out into the General Workshop in a series of rolling, jam-packed trolleys, and unfurling in a giant window display that rejoices in all things material.

Both Bloomsbury and Stratford have a comprehensive range of hand tools, power tools and fixed machinery, including proxxon tools for small-scale detailed work in fields like model making and precision mechanics, drilling, milling, grinding, polishing, engraving and cutting. 

Stratford has more room for larger-scale woodworking projects, and an additional thicknesser planner machine.

Both of our workshops have facilities for throwing, hand building, casting and glazing. 

With both a test kiln and a large front-loading kiln, Stratford has facilities for test firings and large pieces. Stratford also houses our slab roller and wall-mounted clay extruder. 

Bloomsbury offers hot glass processes, such as slumping and some small-scale glass casting. Hot glass processes will be available in Stratford from January 2026.

Bloomsbury has facilities for small-scale metal fabrication (including a milling machine and junior lathe), low-temperature metal casting, and enamelling and silver soldering facilities for jewellery-making (including a jewellery bench). 

Stratford has all of the facilities that Bloomsbury has, plus space to accommodate larger metalworking projects, TIG and MIG welding, spot welding and a small chip forge for hot working and forging. 

Both locations have a range of different proxxon tools.

Bloomsbury has facilities for mending, hand sewing and sewing machines. 

Stratford has all of these facilities, as well as a digital embroidery machine, an industrial straight stitch sewing machine, an industrial overlocker and an industrial steam iron. 

Both sites have a heat press for transfers, as well as screen printing equipment. 

Stratford will also offer paper making facilities before the end of 2025.

Bloomsbury has 3D printers, laser cutters, vinyl cutters and facilities for 3D scanning and working with electronics, such as soldering stations. 

Stratford has the same facilities, housed in a suite of dedicated digital rooms, with a greater number of machines and larger laser cutting beds.

Bloomsbury has one modelmaker's CNC mill, capable of machining wood and foam. 

Stratford has three powerful mills in a dedicated CNC room, which will allow you to use a more comprehensive range of materials. To use our CNC Room in Stratford, all members will have to first book a CNC triage session, which will be live on our website every last Friday of the month at 12 noon.

Available at Stratford only. 

Our new room for edible materials and making processes! The experimental kitchen enables food-safe projects, whether you're taking a hobby to new culinary depths or engaging in sensory scientific research that’s not possible at home or elsewhere within UCL.

To access the experimental kitchen, please complete a consultation with a technician (live for booking on our website every last Friday of the month at 12 noon), or drop in during our opening hours on Thursdays and Fridays between 2nd - 17th October.