CREATING THE SPACE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
It may sound insulting to say a “ maker of silly ideas ” was one of the driving forces behind around 100 community volunteers uniting to create 3D-print face shields during the UK ’ s first Covid-19 lockdown . But Ming Wu MRes ’ 18 wouldn ’ t be insulted . Because although he ’ s a co-director and co-founder of The Makers Guild , and did indeed help to coordinate the creation of 27,000 face shields in 2020 , Ming ’ s preferred job title is , in fact , Maker of Silly Ideas .
While working as a freelance product designer in 2016 , Ming enrolled in a part-time Master ’ s at the University of Portsmouth , where he met Sam Asiri BSc ( Hons ) ’ 07 MA ’ 16 and Sharilyn Arocho BA ( Hons ) ’ 13 . Together with fellow entrepreneur Gavin Hodson , they hatched a plan for a “ maker space ”: a place where people who create things can come to work if they lack space or equipment . Following initial support from the University ’ s NEST team ( now known as Student StartUp ) they found a willing venue on the upper second floor of Portsmouth Guildhall . It ’ s been a big hit with the creative community .
‘ We found a space , had lots of equipment ,’ Ming recalls , ‘ it ’ s there for the community to use at a really reasonable price . Equipment and space are expensive . It helps that there ’ s a group of people maintaining the equipment and teaching people how to use it , as well as a support structure in place to think about ideas . You can come in with an idea and leave with a start-up business .’
Some need a place to prototype their ideas . Others are just bored of working from home and want to be part of a creative community . The ceramic studio is used by around 70 ceramicists , from professional to hobbyist . The space even gave an early home to the innovative Small Robot Company , who
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The Makers Guild
use robotics and artificial intelligence to help make farming more sustainable . They arrived at The Makers Guild with three staff , left with 15 and continue to grow in line with their ambitions to revolutionise agri-tech .
Ming ’ s outlook is as refreshing as his adopted job title : ‘ We don ’ t look at it like a normal business network . It ’ s a big community of people who want to help each other and share skills . And there ’ s me being the silly person going , “ oh , we could do it this way or we could do it that way ”.’
But as we ’ ve seen , the ideas are far from frivolous . The face shield project involved 70 3D printers across Portsmouth . One volunteer alone estimated she had cut eight kilometres of elastic cables into the right size . Others were involved in 3D-printing bands , hole-punching transparent visors , and distribution . The team began with an open source design but , in Ming ’ s words , ‘ squished it so we could make more in the same amount of time .’ Shields were distributed across half the Solent region , and 3D printers purchased from donations to the project were passed on to local schools after work on the face shields wrapped up with the end of lockdown .