Jirkeeyga collection
With the continuing rise of fast fashion and the devastating consequences it is having on our environment, sustainable fashion is strengthening its offensive. Organisations like Swap Nation are being erected with the aim of making ‘sustainable fashion affordable for women in the UK’. Clothes are being repurposed and vintage being back in vogue is further […]
Upcycle, recycle, full circle
For some years, scaffolding boards and other ‘waste’ materials from the Olympic Park were used for mezzanine-building, warehouse modifications and much more in Hackney Wick. Almost a decade ago, Tom Fletcher created his Rejuce factory in a Fish Island warehouse, collecting discarded fruit from a wholesale market. Another warehouse-dweller I knew fantasised about closed-circuit hydroponic […]
Meet DollyOlli
How did you meet each other? Marie: We met at a non-reality party, far, far away on the planet fantasy. Money doesn’t matter there, its full of eccentrics, there are no grey square rectangular buildings, they’re all round and colourful. Everything is illogical. How long have you been here? M: The Olympics finished and we […]
Wellbeing in the Wick
Kevin Hempsted is a born and bred Eastender, and runs White Post Lane therapy and counselling centre A Balanced Life. He talks about how the pandemic has impacted health, and why the local community is so essential to all our wellbeing. We’re still processing the trauma of the past year… Lockdown has taken away part of community we all need – that contact with […]
Esports Explosion
The esports industry has grown astronomically over the last few years, and the popularity of computer and console gaming has been the main driver. Since 2012 the global games market has more than doubled in size from $70.6bn to $180bn in 2021. East London, and the Here East campus in particular, has become a hub […]
Fit out to public house
It’s said that the celebrated photographer David Bailey’s grandmother collected glasses there and was paid in gin. Certainly printers, mechanics, scrap metal merchants and more all bowled into it before its closure in the mid-90s. Then all-night ravers and partyheads found more discrete ways in until the door was breeze-blocked a few years back. An […]
A Seat At The Table
When London was selected as the host city for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games it came with the promise of creating a legacy that would last years beyond the sporting competition. The London Legacy Development Co-operation (LLDC) was formed and tasked with that challenge. It now operates as a planning authority for the Queen […]
Affordable art stone studios
Even five years ago, opening a Sainsbury’s on Wallis Road would have been, at best, a poor business idea. Like many things in Hackney Wick, the supermarket is a paradox: cheaper than many of its local competitors, the store is a sign of the area’s increasing exclusivity; it represents development which is shifting the economic, […]
The Wicked One: Luk Man Hon
How did you come to be in Hackney Wick (HWFI)? Back in 2008 I had just started my record business when a friend recommended I take a look at Oslo House as a potential place to work from. He was using it to store speakers at the time, and sometimes he would do gigs at […]
East London’s enterprise catalyst
Just off the River Lea Navigation at the former sweet factory site Clarnico Quay, stands the new Hackney Bridge; a cluster of businesses, restaurants, start-ups, and a new Sunday market (see p.4). Amongst all these commercial traders is the Good Growth Hub, a space to connect businesses with local talent and provide a range of […]