april 7th
The Lab MakerSpace: Could Sugru become an essential feature of all #ukhousing homes?
Many of you will already know about Sugru - the mouldable glue that turns into rubber.
It's a true innovation success story.
The idea for Sugru was conceived by Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh when she was a Art student whilst using mixtures of standard silicone sealants and sawdust in her work.
The problem Jane sought to fix was simple:
““I don’t want to buy new stuff all the time. I want to improve and re-imagine the stuff I already have so it works better for me.”
Over the next 7 years she developed the idea of a substance that was moldable, self-adhesive and self-curing. Her goal was to enable people "to easily and affordably repair, improve or customize things they already own.
In 2010 TIME Magazine listed Sugru alongside the iPad as one of the years top 50 inventions.
So if it's not new why is sugru in bromford lab?
Part of the Lab remit is to get innovations into the hands of people who might otherwise have not heard of them. It's going to be a while yet before we can get a 3D printer into every home - but sugru is available and affordable.
We've already posted on the idea of a makerspace on every street, but what about if every tenant was given a pack of sugru to make simple fixes around the home?
Could a £13 pack save expensive call outs to fix things?
Could we develop an online space where people can share the home hacks they have made with their community?
We are going to be asking some groups of residents to trial this for us and see what creativity they can unleash!