ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS

Circular Economy School MARKET TOMORROW! This weekend, we’re setting up the Circular Economy School market stall at @standardmarketnw10 - and it’s going to look something like this! Come down on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May, from 11-4. See the market stall, touch the products we’ve been making - and buy them! The stall has been designed by Clementine Krokatsis, Geetasree Thakur and Sweetsan Manijam, in workshops led by Francesca Rausa from @_recollective_ . It’s made with the material that Recollective have collected - timber and sheet materials like ply and OSB - which would otherwise have been incinerated. The design was inspired by the young people wanting to create a welcoming space - a circular design (insert your own joke). The young people then learnt to use chop-saws, circular saws, Japanese pull-saws and orbital sanders, to bring the design to life. This animation was directed by Clementine Krokatsis. Thanks to Freya Bruce for the film!

WHAT CAN YOU BUY AT THE CES MARKET? This weekend, we’re setting up the Circular Economy School market stall at @standardmarketnw10 - and we’ll be selling these lamps. The CORNER LAMP is made of reclaimed ‘key clamp’ railings, paired with the top of a nitrous oxide canister found on the streets of Park Royal. It’s 99% reused material - the only new bit is the nut and bolt. The SCAFF LAMP is made of 100% aluminium scaffolding offcuts, reclaimed from museum installations across London. It’s one of the simplest things we’ve ever designed. They’ve been designed and made by Anas Jimaale, Lotte de Kruijff and Milans Kleins, in workshops led by Absolute Beginners, using mainly hand tools plus a pillar drill and a Dremel. We’ll have 10 Corner Lamps and 15 Scaff Lamps for sale. We’ve used less than 1KWh of electricity to make them, which translates to 170g of CO2 in the UK. That means each lamp has created 👉 less than 10g of CO2 👈 in its manufacture (not including the electronics inside, or the van that brought the metal to us). When we say ‘radically sustainable’, we mean it.

FILM ALERT PART 3 🍿💡 The Circular Economy School is a new project in Park Royal, north-west London, where local young people can learn how to make sustainable products out of waste materials. In this video, Tom James, director of Absolute Beginners, talks about the ideas behind the school, - and why you (yes you) should come down this weekend and support it. We’re running a market stall at @standardmarketnw10 , this Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May, on Standard Road, Park Royal, London, NW10 6EX - from 11AM-4PM each day. You’ll be able to see the products we’ve made, talk to the young people who’ve made them - and buy the products! Plus, 50% of all sales this weekend will be going directly to the young people - on top of the London Living Wage they’ve already been paid. The Circular Economy School is run by Absolute Beginners (@a_beginners_ ), @_recollective_ and @rescuedclay , and funded by Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation (@oldoakparkroyal ). Video by @lavandafilmsuk . Graphics by @j_o_n_c_a_n .

FILM ALERT PART 2 🍿🪚💪 The Circular Economy School is a new project in Park Royal, where local young people can learn how to make sustainable products out of waste materials. Here’s one of our brilliant young people, Geetasree Thakur, talking about the work she’s been doing with @_recollective_ , to make a market stall for the school. And you can see it! In real life! The market stall will be in operation at @standardmarketnw10 , next Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May, on Standard Road, Park Royal, London, NW10 6EX. The Circular Economy School is run by Absolute Beginners, Recollective and @rescuedclay , and funded by Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation. Thanks to Geetasree for a great interview. Video by @lavandafilmsuk . Graphics by @j_o_n_c_a_n

FILM ALERT 🍿💪 The Circular Economy School is a new project in Park Royal, where local young people learn how to make sustainable products out of waste materials - and gain the skills they need for careers in the creative industries. Here’s one of our amazing young people, Shanti Esnard, talking about the work she’s been doing with @rescuedclay to make beautiful Living Planters. Come down and see what the young people have been making on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May, at @standardmarketnw10 , Park Royal. The Circular Economy School is run by Absolute Beginners, Recollective and Rescued Clay, and funded by Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation. Beautiful video by @lavandafilmsuk . Beautiful graphics by @j_o_n_c_a_n . Thanks to @shantiesnard for a brilliant interview.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY SCHOOL PRODUCTION - PART 3 - Recollective. Last month, the Circular Economy School shifted gears, from TEACHING to PRODUCTION. Clementine, Sweetsan and Geetasree chose to work with Fran Rausa from @_recollective_ , to make the actual market stall from which we’ll be selling our products! Recollective work with the film industry, intervening at the end of the shoot to reclaim and reuse the material from film sets, rather than it being incinerated. The stall was designed with the material that they’ve collected: timber and sheet materials like ply and OSB. The design was inspired by the young people wanting to create a welcoming space - a circular design (insert your own joke) - and shaped by the realities of working with timber (it’s hard to make a circle out of wood). The paint was leftover paint, kindly donated by @yinka_ilori . The decisions throughout were the young people’s. The market stall will be making its debut at @standardmarketnw10 , on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May. You’ll have to wait to next week to see final pictures of it, in all its glory. These images show: 1) The young people and Fran planning out the stall. 2) Geetasree using a circular sander. 3) Fran demonstrating how to use a hand saw. 4) An arrow found in Park Royal. 5) Geetasree learning to use a chop saw. 6) Some live footage of the stall being sanded. 7) A hand-written sign on some timber that says NO IDEAS ARE BAD IDEAS, which is true. 8) A very upbeat arrow found on the internet. 9) Mixing some paint colours (before some strong debate about what colours to use). 10) Clementine using the victorious lilac paint. 11) An arrow found on the internet. 12) Clementine bolting the stall together. 13) A sneak peak of the final stall.

Circular Economy School - Market Stall - Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May! Over the last three months, we’ve been running the Circular Economy School - a new project in Park Royal, where ten young people have learnt to make sustainable products out of waste materials. We’re now running a market stall to sell them @standardmarketnw10 , for one weekend only - and you’re invited! The market stall will be: ➡️ at Standard Market, Standard Road, Park Royal, London NW10 6EX, ➡️ from 11AM - 4PM ➡️ on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May. The young people have produced three new products: 💡 SCAFF LAMPS, made out of reclaimed aluminium scaffolding; 💡 CORNER LAMPS, made from scrap hand-rails and Nitrous Oxide canisters; 🌱 LIVING PLANTERS, a new fully natural planter, made from local rammed earth. 🪚 They’ve even built the market stall from which these products will be sold! Come on down to meet the young people, hear what they’ve been up to, see some products that don’t cook the planet - and BUY THEM! The Circular Economy School is a group of ten 17-21 year-olds from Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham, who’ve been paid London Living Wage for their time on the project. The project is led by Absolute Beginners, @_recollective_ and @rescuedclay , and funded by Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY SCHOOL PRODUCTION - PART 2 - ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS 🪚💡💪 Over the last few weeks, our young people at the Circular Economy School have moved from LEARNING to MAKING. Anas, Lotte and Milans chose to work with Tom, to develop the lights we’d prototyped during Absolute Beginners’ teaching sessions earlier in the spring. These sessions were all about metal: unwanted scaffolding poles, discarded key clamp railings, and even the tops of our nitrous oxide canisters, themselves an off-cut from our Nox Vase project in 2024. All of these materials are 100% aluminium. Most of the power used to make the lamps was: 💪 Together, we’ve developed two new lamp designs. There are a few tasters in here: but you’ll have to wait til next week to see them in all their glory. In the photos, you’ll see: 1) Milans, Anas and Tom discuss one of our new prototypes. 2) Lotte leading a discussion in front of our DIY light display. 3) An arrow found on the internet (CES branding by @j_o_n_c_a_n ). 4) Our gorgeous nitrous-oxide canister tops (we’ve been waiting to use these for two years). 5) Some unwanted key clamp railings. These were rescued from a museum installation, and donated to us, by @recreateuk 6) Milan cuts some scaffolding poles with a hacksaw. 7) Filing down the sharp (and sometimes wonky) edges with a file. 8) An arrow photographed in Park Royal (on the sign for @nirvana.ldn coffee, 10/10 we recommend it). 9) Polished pipe slices. We polish them with scourers and water, by hand. 10) The young people work out the process for making the products. 11) Lotte etching the logo. 12) A found arrow off the internet. 13) The etched pieces. How amazing do these look on a scale of AMAZING to INCREDIBLE? Wait til you see the Scaff Lamps next week.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY SCHOOL UPDATE PRODUCTION - PART 1 💪🪨 The last few weeks at the Circular Economy School have been b-u-s-y. At the start of April, we move from TEACHING to PRODUCTION. We split the school up into three groups, each working with one of the partners, to start developing a new product with them. Minerva Works has been filled with the sounds of sawing, drilling, clanging and coffee splurging. First up, we have @rescuedclay . Anurag, Rahima, Romario and Shanti chose to work with Prashant to develop a new product using locally sourced clay. Together, they’re designing and making a new kind of planter, made out of rammed earth. (They look amazing, but you’ll have to wait til next week to see the final things). In the photos you’ll see: 1) Shanti looking happy as she rams some earth into the modular mould, using one of Absolute Beginner’s found nitrous oxide canisters as the core. 2) A found arrow off the internet. 3) The team planning their product, around a table in Minerva Works. 4) Prashant and Romario experimenting with a modular mould (CNC milled by the lovely people at Park Royal Open Workshop (@pow_workshops ) down the road, thanks Fernando). 5) A stack of the moulds being put together. 6) A happy looking found arrow off the internet. 7) The team sanding the moulds outside. 8) Anurag sieving the found and processed clay, to remove any impurities. 9) Et voila, le sieved clay. 10) Mixing the materials. The planters are made of a mix of locally sourced materials, including London Clay, gravel, sand and straw. 11) Romario pouring the final materials out. 12) A found arrow off the internet. 13) The final material poured into one of the completed moulds. 14) Ramming the earth down inside the mould. 15) A mould using a Rubicon can as the spacer for the core (the Circular Economy School is open to brand collaborations, @rubicondrinksuk ). 16) A final found arrow. Don’t recognise this one to be honest. 17) One of the planters coming out of the moulds, and a happy Romario.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY SCHOOL ⛔️💶📝 Recollective Workshops! Last month, we ran the final set of ‘teaching workshops’ with the Circular Economy School, before we got into producing our products (more on this to come). This time it was @_recollective_ ’s turn. Freya from Recollective ran two workshops around material sourcing, systems and behaviour change. In the first session we spoke about where construction materials come from, their impact from extraction, through processing, use and disposal. We looked at ‘zines’ as a tool for getting political messages out cheap and fast and made our own zines, reflecting on the topics we had covered together. In the second session, we learnt how to process and reuse these materials. We had a de-nailing competition in the morning and then measured and audited materials in stock. In the afternoon, the young people took part in a taster design process, learning how to draw to scale and designing community spaces from the materials in our pallet.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY SCHOOL 🛟💰📝 Workshop 5 - Absolute Beginners Part 2 A belated post to share our second Absolute Beginners workshop for the Circular Economy School. This time, the students narrowed in from ‘anything can be a lamp’ to thinking about what might work as a product - and what tools they’ll need to use to make them happen. We used three words to guide us: ➡️ SIMPLICITY (is it easy to make?); ➡️ REPEAT-ABILITY (can we make more than one?) ➡️ MATERIALS (do we have enough materials to do it over and over again?) The students came worked in groups and came up with three ideas: The Butterfly (made from some disused scaffolding, and metal cable ties); The Disco Grenade (two of our Nox Cannister tops tied together, with holes drilled all over); And a nameless table lamp made out of donated Kee Clamp railing. Watch this space to see where they go next.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY SCHOOL 🌀💹✏️ Workshop 4 - Absolute Beginners Part 1 ANYTHING CAN BE A LAMP In this workshop, we introduced the young people to Absolute Beginners, and the ideas behind it. We started with Tom James giving an overview of our current, non-circular economy, and the global havoc its wreaking, in terms of the climate emergency, waste and worker’s rights to name just three. 🔥 After this, Tom led a workshop called ANYTHING CAN BE A LAMP. The young people were split into groups, and had to choose from a table full of reclaimed materials: buckets, bin-lids, drain-pipes, scaffolding, extraction hoses and toasters were all on the menu. They then brought these materials together with different light fittings to make a prototype a quick and simple lamp. Introducing, in order of appearance: The Giraffe Lamp, The Toaster Lamp, and The Worm.