Make. Liverpool’s newly renovated atrium hosted the Baltic Schmooze #6 on Thursday, February 2nd.
The Baltic Schmooze is the quarterly networking event for creatives in the Baltic Triangle. For 2017 Schmooze is going on tour to visit other creative districts in the Liverpool City Region! This usually Baltic-Triangle-based event will be held in different creative areas around Liverpool, and the first stop on the tour was Make. North Docks. For this event, we explored the makers’ economy currently present in the Liverpool City Region. The evening featured talks that highlighted the various challenges and successes within the sector.
After getting a drink at the newly completed bar, everyone gathered in the Atrium for the presentations. The co-founder of Make, Liam Kelly, welcomed everyone and introduced the first speaker, BeeCycle. The team behind BeeCycle spoke about their business designing mugs, labels, and unique gifts. Committed to creating sustainable products and innovative personalized gifts, BeeCycle are making products that make a difference (to see what innovations they’ve been working on, go to www.beecycle.co.uk).
Next to speak was Ben Jackson, owner of Top Rope Brewing. Ben talked about his journey starting a company Liverpool and what is involved in manage a brewery. Lastly, Ben went through the process of making craft beer (to find out more and see their beers, visit: www.topropebrewing.com). Following Ben was Laurie Crombie from the Kazimier, who discussed the creation of the Invisible Wind Factory. The Invisible Wind Factory is a performance venue known for its elaborate, theatrical, and immersive events. Furthermore he talked about the origins of the Kazimier, and how they create such incredible experiences for their guests (check it out at: thekazimier.co.uk).
Liam returned to the stage and talked about the transformation of Make North Docks’ warehouse over the past year. During that time we completed the bar, the co-working space upstairs, and the atrium. Also, we have worked hard to build up the core equipment in our warehouse through our ongoing tool-drive (https://goo.gl/forms/k0tTOchHfB3gRQ6J3). At the end of his speech he invited everyone to take a tour of the warehouse and check out the progress for themselves.
We spent the rest of the night around the newly finished bar, drinking, talking and exchanging ideas with our fellow creatives. Keeping the community of creatives and makers growing is important to us, and we can’t wait to see where the Schmooze goes next!
