Latest News | 17 June 2021
A look inside the £18m museum that could be the making of Derby
The new £18 million Museum of Making is now open to the public. Showcasing Derby’s manufacturing past, present and future, the venue celebrates 300 years of making. Following a recent visit, Marketing Derby’s Press and PR Executive Robin Johnson, shares his thoughts.
Do you know that feeling when you see an old friend on the other side of the room you haven’t seen for ages?
Yes, I suppose it is quite a familiar thing right now as we continue to emerge from lockdown.
But that was the first emotion that washed over me after just a couple of steps inside the new £18 million Museum of Making.
At the other end of the spectacular glass atrium entrance, hanging from the ceiling, was a Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 aero engine – developed, designed and built right here in Derby.
It is the first thing your eye is drawn to as you enter this wondrous new building.
I’ll be honest, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Then I looked up.
Above me hung an ‘exploded’ Toyota car, built at the firm’s Burnaston factory, just on the outskirts of the city.
The way it is displayed allows you to admire the intricacies of its inner workings. It is beautiful.
For me, engineering is art, with the complexities of a Trent engine rivalling anything produced by Picasso or da Vinci.
Both showpieces combine to create an extremely powerful introduction to the Museum of Making – a statement of intent, if you like – and the ultimate ‘come on’ to explore further.
Climbing the stairs towards where the Rolls-Royce engine hangs, the wall is adorned with an eclectic mix of products, manufactured in Derby over the past 300 years.
However, all this is just a tempting hors d’oeuvre to the main course – the four floors and 30,000 exhibits that await.
Although the Museum of Making has now been open for a few weeks, not everyone has had time to go and visit. So, I’m conscious about spoiling the surprise (of which there are many).
However, there is so much to see that it would be nigh on impossible to include it all in this piece.
For me, a particular highlight was the ‘Assemblage’ – a room filled with racks of thousands of exhibits, which would previously not be on display.
It is a fascinating space, which not only tells the story of Derby’s manufacturing prowess but our social history.
And I literally had to be dragged out of the room containing a huge model railway set!
It is clear that a huge amount of thought and hard work has gone into creating the Museum of Making.
It is not just a museum. It is a place for creating and making, whether that’s in the fully functional workshops in the belly of the building, or the hot desking space up in the eaves.
It is a place to meet. The museum boasts excellent meeting and events facilities.
I recently attended a Marketing Derby event there as part of the Derby Book Festival and it was great to be in such historic surroundings, with the River Derwent as the backdrop.
Crucially, it is a place which, I feel, has Derby’s personality engrained in every freshly cleaned brick (tens of thousands of them have been cleaned!).
It is creative, innovative, pragmatic, accessible and above all – inclusive.
This is a museum that will appeal to people of all age groups, from youngsters whose creativity has been stoked through Lego kits, to seasoned engineers, some of whom may have once had a hand in creating the exhibits.
For the former, the Museum of Making should serve as a source of inspiration. For the latter, it is a celebration of their art and the generations before them.
My grandad was a patternmaker at Rolls-Royce – and my mum worked for British Rail at a time when Derby was developing the Advanced Passenger Train (the tilting train).
Back in the 1980s, I recall my grandad taking me to the Silk Mill when it was the Industrial Museum. It can’t have left too much of an impression on me as I went on to a career in journalism!
However, with its transformation into the Museum of Making, the sleeping giant has been awakened – and I’m sure that many a youngster will now leave the building wanting to design space rockets when they grow up.
My overriding feeling as I went round is that my grandad would have loved this.
So, the museum succeeded in creating an emotional connection with me.
But how will it play to people not from Derby who are unfamiliar with the city’s manufacturing heritage?
If reviews in national newspapers are to be believed – then very favourably!
I left the building feeling a sense of pride. The number of times I’ve been asked ‘What Derby is famous for?’.
Now, I can direct them to the Museum of Making for a truly definitive answer.
I also left feeling that I needed to make a return visit as there was just too much to take in.
I’ve spoken to a number of people who have visited the Museum of Making since it opened and asked them about the effect it had on them.
Many have said it left them feeling emotional. I can’t argue with that.
Derby is a city renowned for making things that move people – in the Museum of Making, Derby Museums has done just that.
Entry is free to the Museum of Making. For more information please click here.
