02 Feb PrintLab – Creative Makers
PrintLab opens at the National Print Museum on 16 February 2019.
Four kids’ fablabs, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, open across Europe for letterpress and printing, inspired by tinkering and making.
About Creative Makers
Creative Makers innovates the traditional craft sectors of letterpress and printing through the co-creation of four themed kids’ fablabs. These are creative spaces inspired by the newest approaches in tinkering, making, and the fablab movement.
The four participating partners are: Explora, a children’s museum in Rome, Italy; Neapolis, a centre of excellence dedicated to information, communication and creative technologies in Villanova, Spain; Labora, a design studio offering a unique combination of letterpress printing, papermaking, and calligraphy in Tallinn, Estonia; and the National Print Museum, Dublin, a museum which promotes a greater understanding of the historical significance and the contemporary relevance of printing in Ireland by exploring its heritage, craft and technology.
The project began in Autumn 2017 and over the past 18 months the Creative Makers partners, along with four selected artists, shared, exchanged, and enriched their skills through transnational workshops and training sessions, which took place in Rome, Dublin, Tallinn, and Villanova.
The project culminates in the co-creation of new, innovative and interactive workshops for children, families and schools and the launch a kid’s fablab space to house these workshops by the four partners. The fablabs will be places where children will have the opportunity to experiment with the artisanal tradition of letterpress printing alongside modern digital technologies.
Creative Makers at the National Print Museum
In collaboration with the project artist and letterpress printer, Mary Plunkett, the National Print Museum is excited to announce the launch of PrintLab on Saturday 16 February.
PrintLab – Creative Makers will feature workshops for families and children aged from 4-12 years and with an effective audience development strategy in place (informed by training with Melting Pro), the space will continue to grow and act as a “business incubator” to test new activities and attract new audiences of children, schools, teachers, families and students.
The mission of PrintLab is to create an understanding and facilitate discovery of the traditional craft of letterpress printing by empowering children to be creatively involved in hands-on workshops, which unite the basic concepts of the craft with digital fabrication and new technologies.
PrintLab provides a unique, inclusive and creative space for children and families to participate in hands-on social experiences, which aim to provide them with an understanding of the historical, social and contemporary relevance of letterpress printing as a tool for communication.
Taking inspiration from the tinkering and making culture, PrintLab offers a series of fablab style workshops, which encourage children to explore individual and communal approaches to design thinking through the medium of letterpress printing. By innovating and intersecting each workshop with new technologies, the objective of the space is to enhance children’s learning experience in the Museum and reinvent the craft of letterpress for a new generation.
The PrintLab launch takes place on Saturday 16 February with taster workshops, led by Mary Plunkett, open to the public from 14.00 – 16.30.
A series of PrintLab workshops and events are taking place as part of the Museum’s spring/summer Education Programme. The first workshops take place on Tuesday 19 February during the school mid-term break. Visit the National Print Museum’s website from Wednesday 13 February for bookings and more information.
The launch events are free of charge.
For further information or images contact Education Officer, Gretta Halpin-Dodd education@nationalprintmuseum.ie
For more information on Creative Europe funding see https://www.creativeeuropeireland.eu/culture
For more information on Creative Makers see http://www.creativemakers.eu/en/