This project concerns the development of an iconic tactile language for use in the production of tactile maps. Though Braille is assumed to be the main way blind people read and write, in Britain (for example) out of the reported 2 million cohort of visually impaired individuals, it is estimated that only 15-20,000 people use Braille and its use has declined since the increase of blind children into mainstream schools.

The tactile sounds system is a versatile modular vibro-acoustic furniture system that can be used by users with sensory impairment to explore the world of meaningful sounds through vibration in therapeutic, educational and recreational environments.

This project seeks to establish whether modified bio-composite sheet materials made from renewable natural resources can be used as viable alternatives to compressed sheet and petrochemical based materials currently used in the production of furniture designs.

The work situates notions of the locale around and within socialised leisure practises and communal activities of conversation, storytelling and memorialisation. Founded as a consequence of industrialisation, and a by-product of the need for new activities to occupy the spaces opened up by (then) novel notions of 'leisure-time', the Working Men's Club was often located at the heart of working-class communities and was, for a period of time, the predominant venue for communal social life.

Becky Shaw currently holds an AIR Cocheme Fellowship at Central St Martins. The Fellowship invites artists to explore an aspect of Kings Cross. Kings Cross is often seen as a terminal for travel in and out of London; however, this area has a rich domestic heritage as well as a surprisingly complex manufacturing history.

My article-based PhD contributes to research on design and sustainable consumption, by exploring how and why we keep things.

Information about Domestic and Ecclesial Silver at the Art and Design Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University.

Can renewably-produced biopolymers be used as a viable alternative to petrochemical based plastics currently used in the manufacture of moulded furniture pieces?

Paul Chamberlain was a major award winner of the ‘Art on Chairs’ international design competition.

Analogue Kingdom is an audio-visual installation by Esther Johnson, commissioned by Sound and Music and BBC Radio 3 for Cut and Splice: Transmission.