Museum of Making Review
By Ruth Gray Heritage Admin Assistant.
The excitement of being able to visit a museum after lockdown is big anyway but when it is also a brand-new museum that is even more exciting. On my days off I like to visit local attractions and I try and drag my children along but increasingly as they get older, I am met with ‘that’s boring mum I don’t want to go’ or ‘do I have too?’ But not this time my 12-year-old son along with two of his friends practically ran into the museum, especially when the first thing you see is a massive Rolls Royce Trent 1000 Engine suspended from the ceiling! ‘Cool!’ After we had tracked and traced, they immediately ran off and explored by themselves.
This left me time to begin taking in the building, which is spectacular, as my visit this time was to be a brief one, I decided to spend the time photographing it (I have every intention of going back and digging deeper into the interpretation) the aesthetics of the museum are beautiful. It is a space you want to stay in, a soaring atrium in the new Civic Hall, exposed bricks industrial fittings interesting layouts and a smell of coffee rising up from the ground floor café. The intention of the layout is that you create your own bespoke trail through the amazing 30,000 collections. In fact, there is so much on display I think that was why I decided to photograph it as a reference to guide me the next time I go as now I have a few objects I want to know more about.
One part that really interested me was the Railway Gallery, the Derwent Valley has been an artery of transport fed by the river, the canals which first transported the goods which were then connected by a vast route of railways which stretched out in all directions via branch lines to mines, quarries, and mills. No industrial museum can be without mention of the vital role the railways played. The Midland Railway Study Centre houses the Midland Railway focused collections of Derby Museum and those of the Midland Railway Society, regarded as the largest collection of Midland Railway documents, ephemera, and objects available to researchers anywhere.
Derby Silk Mill is thought to be where the site of the world’s first modern factory stood over 300 years ago. And is of global significance, located in the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the key sites of the industrial revolution. Over the past few years, I have followed the progress updates via social media watching it slowly coming together co-created and built by the people and industries of Derby, with hundreds of local volunteers helping to design the way the museum will work for visitors. This is an aspect I have particularly enjoyed and gave me a personal connection to the museum as I have friends who have actually built the stands the exhibits are sitting on as well as driving the Makoray bus that drove around the valley bringing the museum out to the people while the museum was undergoing its transformation. I am also pleased that fellow graduates who volunteered there now have front-of-house positions there.
The Museum of making as its name suggests tells the story of making in the region and it helps to inspire visitors to unleash their creativity and start making. As an artist myself the museum is going to be a rich source of knowledge and support with all the workshops that will be on offer. After an hour or so of wandering, I was greeted by three 12-year-olds holding up windmills they had made in a workshop that they attended, they were very pleased with themselves and all of them really enjoyed the museum as did I. It is a space that really makes me want to go back, for all sorts of reasons not least to help me research for future projects but also for the workshops and of course to sample the wonderful coffee with friends!
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