Christopher Raeburn creates new design lab at East Village, London

• Award-winning pioneer of responsible design is working with neighbourhood operator Get Living to design and produce ‘The Lab E20,’ a space for culture, community and experimentation launching this summer
• The Lab E20 will become East Village’s flagship for community led co-creation, with a focus on positive fashion, climate action and the circular economy
• The space will deliver ‘PREVIEW’, a six-month programme of events and experiences with cultural partners including the British Fashion Council

Get Living has appointed Christopher Raeburn, founder of RÆBURN and Global Creative Director of Timberland, to design and produce a new creative hub at its East Village neighbourhood for the local E20 community, Newham and the wider London creative sector.

The Lab E20

Open to the public this July on East Park Walk, The Lab E20 will bring together emerging, local and global innovators in fashion, tech and design to share their principles of sustainable living with the local community.

The 3,500sq ft double-heighted space on the ground floor of Victory Plaza will be influenced by RÆBURN’s design philosophy of: RÆMADE, RÆDUCED, RÆCYCLED and will form the backdrop to ‘PREVIEW’, a six-month programme of exhibitions, installations, workshops and events. The programme will see East Village host cultural organisations, creative and social enterprises working together to deliver a more sustainable, diverse and accessible pipeline for the future of London’s creative economy.

Ailish Christian-West, Director of Real Estate at Get Living says: “Our vision is for East Village to become a stage where meaningful things are created, offering visitors and members of the community the opportunity to experience and see things being made, to learn about the products and the design, before buying them.

Supported by Get Living, partners planning to come into the space include the British Fashion Council’s Institute of Positive Fashion, helping establish East Village as the gateway to London’s Innovation District, East Bank, and the Fashion District.” 

Caroline Rush CBE, CEO of the British Fashion Council adds: “East Village will be the intersection where creative experimentation and social value combine.”

PREVIEW Programme

The Lab E20 will be the demonstrator space for the PREVIEW programme developed by Futurecity and supported by Get Living. Programme partners alongside the Institute for Positive Fashion and RÆBURN include architectural and sustainable design practice D-Lab; Loanhood, an East London start-up fashion rental platform; The Sustainable Angle, the UK’s leading resource for sourcing sustainable materials, and global activist and maker platform Fashion Open Studio (Fashion Revolution).

RÆBURN will be kicking off the PREVIEW programme, taking over The Lab @ E20 from July. Local residents, students and visitors can get involved in a series of installations, panel discussions, film screenings as well as design and repair workshops classes for all ages.

Christopher Raeburn, Creative Director of RÆBURN comments: “Myself and the team are immensely proud to unveil this project alongside the fantastic individuals behind Get Living, FutureCity and East Village. Since the formation of RÆBURN on Fish Island, Hackney Wick back in 2009 we’ve always been about innovation, inspiration and collaboration, and The Lab E20 has allowed us to truly bring those values to scale; resulting in a meaningful space for all creative thinkers, alongside a provocation to the industry to reconsider our approach to material use and the merits of waste. We’re all excited to kick off our host of community events and witness the rewards of this special location.”

Jackie Robinson, Director of East Village, adds: “We are thrilled to be working with Christopher Raeburn and his team to unveil something for the community that is not only visually stunning but has sustainability running through the very fabric of the space.

“Opening PREVIEW with Raeburn’s exhibition serves as a powerful reminder that making sustainable choices is a collective responsibility. We hope visitors will feel inspired and empowered to continue making choices that help our environment and as a result, hope to see some of the next big ideas for low-carbon living born out of E20.”

A full programme of partner events will be listed at getliving.com.