An onsite workshop not only equips staffs with the tools to respond to the needs of the collection but also welcomes community groups, schools and the general public, teaching skills ranging from joinery to programming.  Employing these existing facilities and networks, the Live Project team created an opportunity for the public to facilitate the transformation of the museum. Through drawings and physical prototyping onsite and offsite, the research investigates how the public can interact with not only the collection but the display of the collection at different levels. Considering perspectives on making from skilled carpenters to first-time visitors, the design proposal responds to various skill levels, and proposes a base module which can be fabricated in the workshop but assembled by anyone: with precedent found in japanese joinery and puzzle boxes, it offers a no-fixing, no-glue environmental solution which becomes part of a community makers’ process. As this develops, up-skilled visitors and experienced makers can augment these modules based on the needs of the object and/or curator. This reinforces public participation as a cornerstone of the museum’s future vision and their present ambition.

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By undertaking the same journey as a visitor, this Live Project has recorded curiosities, experiments and processes from the first visit to the final prototype in a workshop diary. This diary serves to start a prospective maker in the right direction as an understanding of fabrication techniques and knowledge of workshop workflows is essential. Visual visitor guides were also created to explain the unusual structure of the final prototype along with design possibilities based on a selection of archived objects. A handover of all gathered knowledge to the Silk Mill is only the beginning of a new creative process in which the outcomes are unknown. Fittingly, it is intrigue and curiosity that play the most important roles in the longevity of the workshop as a gateway to Derby’s rich industrial heritage.