Here at Science Gallery London we've been making small actions to grow as a sustainable organisation. Since November we've been working on the Green Impact Bronze Award, but that's just the tip of the (shrinking) iceberg. As part of King’s College London Sustainability Week (12-16 February), our fabulous Production Assistant, Jessie, arranged for this month’s Inspiration Hour to focus on how we can be more environmentally friendly as an organisation and where we can take our cues from other institutions.

One such place is the graphic and experience design studio, Hato and its Risograph printing and publishing sister company, Hato Press. Jessie invited co-founder, Ken Kirton, to our most recent Inspiration Hour to talk to us about the innovative ways in which Hato and Hato Press maintain a sustainable working ethic through all their practices. We also got to do a fun, creative workshop with Ken, but more on that later, once we’ve told you a little bit more about Hato Press and the cool stuff that they make and how!

Using Risograph printing Hato Press produce bold visuals for a range of clients, from museums and galleries, through to clothing brands, and even artisanal breweries. Risograph printing is an environmentally friendly and cost effective (bonus!) way of creating unique and striking images using soy-based inks, achieving colours that you won’t get with a standard printer. The risograph is incredibly energy efficient and produces a minimal amount of waste, using technology similar to that of screen printing, and so ticks all the boxes for being sustainable, whilst still producing some really awesome results! You can find out more about the printing process at http://hatopress.net/printing/ (complete with gifs AND power rangers).

But that’s not all Hato Press do! From the offcuts produced during the printing process they create vibrant, upcycled stationery. Here’s snazzy notebooks made that Hato made earlier:

And that brings us back around to the workshop that Jessie and Ken set up for us, where we took a leaf out of Hato Press’s book (sorry!) and made our very own scrap paper notebooks from recycled paper from the SGL offices (printed with lines in house) with Riso printed scraps donated by Hato and recycled posters from our past seasons as covers! Waste not, want not at the SGL offices!

Here’s the SGL team crafting away to make their fab, new notebooks:

And here are the finished products:

As part of our commitment to being a green and sustainable organisation, we'll be uploading regular blogs on what SGL and our friends are doing to be more environmentally friendly, as well as tips that can be done in your own homes!

February 23, 2018

IT AIN'T EASY BEING GREEN, BUT WE'RE TRYING!