Published titles > Design > Made in London
Made in London cover image
UK £40.00
US $65.00
Hardback
256 pages
900 colour illustrations
29 x 22.5 cm (11.5 x 8.75 in)
ISBN: 978-1-8589-4702-0
Made in London
From Workshops to Factories

Carmel King and Mark Brearley

Texts by Clare Dowdy

Walking through London’s busy streets, you would not imagine that the city boasts one of the world’s most diverse manufacturing scenes. But throughout its 32 boroughs, people are making propellers, bicycles, ballet shoes, military uniforms, cardboard packaging, neon signs, umbrellas, chocolate truffles, craft beer and much more. Today there are around 4000 manufacturers based in Greater London, building on the city’s rich heritage of making. While producing world-class goods, they are all jostling for space and dealing with familiar challenges, such as rising rents and trying to keep developers at bay. This book provides a fascinating glimpse behind the doors of London’s making and manufacturing companies: the processes and spaces that are so often hidden from view, and the people who work there, from sole traders to workforces numbering in the hundreds. Fifty businesses are featured, ranging from the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery in Silvertown, one of the capital’s largest plants; to William Say, fourth-generation tin-can makers, in Bermondsey; Growing Underground, a salad farm in old air-raid shelters under the streets of Clapham; and Jost Haas, Britain’s last glass-eye maker, in Mill Hill. Made in London is a timely celebration of the vibrant manufacturing scene that contributes so much to the creativity, vitality and economy of the city.

 

A wide-ranging survey of London's thriving manufacturing scene

With 50 entries, arranged into chapters as varied as 'Metalwork', 'Arts & Entertainment' and 'Food & Drink' 

Each entry features a concise description and specially commissioned photography

Buy online
Find your local bookstore
Bookmark and Share
Author Profiles

Carmel King is a photographer who has spent more than a decade documenting craftspeople, heritage brands and independent businesses across the British Isles. Inspired by her own family’s three-generation textile firm, she is passionate about capturing traditional crafts and celebrating the best of British making and industry.

Mark Brearley is an architect and urbanist with special expertise in urban industry and its future. He is currently Professor of Urbanism at London Metropolitan University’s School of Art, Architecture and Design. Until 2013 he worked for the Mayor of London as Head of Design for London at the Greater London Authority. He is also proprietor of the long-established London tray and trolley manufacturer Kaymet, and for the past decade has been cataloguing London manufacturers.

Clare Dowdy is a freelance journalist, editor, copywriter and curator. She has written about design, architecture and manufacturing for the Financial Times, Monocle, Wallpaper and BBC.com, and edited the online magazine Furnace, which championed factories.

Foreign Rights Enquiries
Rights are available
Reviews

The superb 'Made in London'...one of those upscale coffee-table books that Merrell seems to be so adept at printing, this gorgeously produced tome...

Creative Review
More Information

List of Contributors (in order of appearance in book)

 

• Leanne Tritton is chair of The London Society. She is the founder and managing director of ING Media, a communications agency focusing on contemporary architecture, design and the built environment.

- Foreword 

 

• Peter Murray is co-founder of New London Architecture, and an architect and architectural commentator. 

- Introduction

 

• Hugh Pearman is an architectural writer, critic and consultant.

- The Art of Prophecy 

 

• Carolyn Steel is a writer and architect.

- London: Future Food City 

 

• Indy Johar is an architect and co-founder of Dark Matter, a field laboratory that aims to redesign the urban institutional infrastructure in radical terms. 

- A Radical Shift: Visual Collaboration with Squint Opera 

 

• Kat Hanna is an urbanist and researcher who has worked in London politics, planning and policy. Her professional interests include urban economies, transport and the role of technology in the built environment. 

 – City of London Future

 

• Neal Shashore is an architectural historian and head of school and chief executive officer at the London School of Architecture.

- Back to the Future of Architectural Education

 

• Jude Kelly is a theatre director and former artistic director of the Southbank Centre, Britain’s largest cultural institution.

– A Leap of the Imagination

 

• Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon is a campaigner who has promoted reforms of the police service. She was created a life peer in 2013. 

– Daring to Dream

 

• Tony Travers is an academic and journalist who specializes in local government.

– Capital Growth

 

• Mark Stevenson is a writer, businessman and futurologist.

– London’s New Nickname

 

• Anna Minton is a writer and journalist. Her book Big Capital: Who Is London For? was published in 2017.

– Big Capital: A City that is ‘Pre-something’

 

• Sarah Ichioka is an urbanist, writer and founder of the environmental, cultural and social consultancy Desire Lines. She is a proponent of regenerative design, biomimicry and the use
of Indigenous knowledge in urban planning. 

– Moving Towards a Regenerative London

 

• Gillian Darley is a writer, teacher, architectural historian and broadcaster, and the author of Excellent Essex (2019).

– The Future of Heritage: Conservation v2

 

• Roma Agrawal is an engineer, author and broadcaster.

– Laying Firm Foundations

 

• Mark Brearley is an architect who focuses on urban projects and placemaking. He is also proprietor of the long-established London tray and trolley manufacturer Kaymet, and since 2010 has been cataloguing manufacturers in the city. He is the co-author of Made in London (2022).

– A City of High Streets

 

• Claire Bennie is an architect and director of the housing development consultancy Municipal, which advises public landowners.

– Wrap It Up and Start Again: The Future of London’s Housing

 

• Yasmin Jones-Henry is a journalist and strategist who focuses on the intersections of fashion and finance, and culture and commerce. 

– Inclusive by Design

 

• Yvonne Farrell and Shelley MacNamara are founding partners of Grafton Architects, which won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2021 for its library and studio building for Kingston University London. 

– Giving Back to the City

 

• Smith Mordak is an award-winning architect, engineer and writer working across disciplines to realize a regenerative economy and built environment and is interviewed by Rob Fiehn is a London-based communications consultant specializing in architecture and design. He also takes on advisory roles, acting as chair for the Museum of Architecture, board member of the Blackhorse Workshop in Walthamstow, and trustee at The London Society. 

– Learning from London’s Peers

 

• Adam Nathaniel Furman was specially commissioned to create the illustrations in the book. He is a British artist and designer of Argentine and Japanese heritage, who lives and works in London. He trained in architecture, and his atelier works in spatial design and art of all scales, from video and prints to large public artworks and architecturally integrated ornament, as well as products, furniture, interiors, publishing and academia. 

 

 

  • Made in London sample spread #1
  • Made in London sample spread #2
  • Made in London sample spread #3
  • Made in London sample spread #4
  • Made in London sample spread #5
  • Made in London sample spread #6
  • Made in London sample spread #7
  • Made in London sample spread #8