A Materials Science and Making Odyssey with Dr Anna Ploszajski
Event Format:
6-6:45pm: Talk by Anna
6:45-7:45: Open networking session, with drinks and refreshments
Anna Ploszajski was just your average materials scientist, going about her life in the lab putting theory and formulae to the findings in front of her. But one day, she smashed a very expensive test-tube (who hasn’t?) and took it to the glassblower to be fixed. She stood, transfixed, as this master craftsperson coaxed the gooey not-quite-liquid into the repair, and at once had a crushing realisation; she’d been calling herself an expert in materials, and yet knew nothing of how glass behaves under the hand, or how to forge an iron bar, or shape a spinning ball of clay. An unknown parallel material world opened up to her - and that was the realm of the craftspeople.
This set her off on a journey of discovery; she interviewed over ninety makers, artists, movers and shakers about the materials that made them tick; silversmiths, wood carvers, bakers, knitters, tanners, embroiderers, jewellers, enamelers, dentists, conservators and makers of wigs, glues, paints, watches, dyes, paper, lime, slime, trumpets and more. She learnt to speak their language, heard the stories of lives touched by each of these substances and, by getting her hands very dirty and at one point quite badly cut, finally found the true meaning of materials through making.
Join Anna on this craft odyssey as she recounts a scientists’ adventure through the world of materials and making. Will it be sciency? Yes. Is it overly-ambitious? Probably. Will you come away having ordered a sewing machine and a full suede welding suit? Only time (and coming along) will tell.
Link to Anna's book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handmade-Scientists-Search-Meaning-through/dp/1472971086/
Access information: https://www.accessable.co.uk/university-of-cambridge/trumpington-street-and-lensfield-road/access-guides/beg-24-lecture-room-4