Making the Museum of Making: our February talk

 We were very pleased to welcome Eilish Clohessy-Dennis, Curator of Making at Derby Museums to talk to us about the transformation of the former Silk Mill in Derby into a vibrant, popular museum which was shortlisted in 2022 for Museum of the Year. Derby also has a Museum and Art Gallery and Pickford's House, a museum in the former home of Enlightenment architect Joseph Pickford.

Eilish gave us a reminder of how long ago the silk mill, seen above, was up and running; in 1717 the mill was planned by John Lumb, adjacent to the river Derwent, it opened in 1721, making it possibly the first factory. As you can imagine, there are many depictions of the Silk Mill, here's a very old one below:

 After John Lumb's death, the Wilson family bought the mill. In 1900 the mill was sold and became a chemical producer of snowfire and fly paper. In 1910, the adjacent mill was burnt down and the Silk Mill was virtually destroyed. It was rebuilt with three floors, and became Derby industrial museum in 1974 with an emphasis on Rolls Royce and their railway heritage. By 2011, it was decided a rethink was needed and the building was temporarily shut, it was decided to run it as a trust.

Regarded as the birthplace of the factory system, when people were asked what they would like to see in the museum, things mentioned were the railway hub, Rolls Royce cars, aeroengines, St.Pancras station ironwork, Lara Croft and Toyota cars. Here's a photo of one of the boards which captures some of the ideas people in derby had about what they wanted to see in their museum:

In addition to asking people what they wanted in their museum,  workshops were held where people came and made things. As Eilish said ' Involve me and I learn' is a powerful mantra. In the slide below, you can see how people were inspired by the makers of the past, made by the makers of today and they intend to empower the makers of the future

In the museum they have 80000 objects, and wanted to involve people in the displays, so asked for help in how they should be displayed. For example displaying in groups accordiong to what they are made of

Here are some of the 1500 volunteers who processed the collections:

This is the vibrant looking exterior of the Museum of Making at dusk

Below are examples of some of the things made in Derby, you can identify most of them; there are 300 individual bricks, and of course we had at least one brick factory in Swindon. They also made Qualcast mowers

It took 2 years, including Covid before the necessary alterations had been made and they could move in. September 2021 was the proper opening with a festival of making

It must have been very exciting to be shortlisted as Arts Council Museum of the Year last year.

Derby seems like a really interesting place, well worth a visit to see all three museums.

If you would like to see the recording of the talk, it's here

Thank you once again to Eilish Clohessy-Dennis for the fabulous background to The Museum of Making in Derby.