SUPPORT THE WORK
Support the work.
Taipa Lab is a small studio, and one studio can only test a handful of material swaps a year. Support is what buys more tests: bench time, materials, kiln firings, tools, and the occasional extra pair of hands. Everything we find is published in the open, so the help reaches further than one bench. None of this is needed to read along, which stays free and open.
BUY A CUP
Buy a cup.
The simplest way to help is to buy a cup. It is a research output, made from clay dug on a London construction site, glazed with local wood ash. What you pay helps fund the next test, which is then published in the open. See the cup and buy one on the shop.
LEND A HAND
Lend an afternoon in the studio.
Some of the work is physical and happens in bursts: processing clay, preparing materials, building something, packing pieces. On those days a few extra hands make a real difference. Leave your email to join the list and we will write when there is a session coming up. It is occasional and early, not a rota, and there is no WhatsApp group to join.
VOLUNTEER
Join the volunteer list.
Leave your email and we will write when there is a session coming up. Occasional and early, not a rota.
We will only email you about volunteering and studio sessions, and you can leave the list at any time. Your email is stored in Kit, the service we use to send these messages.
This is an interest list, not a rota. As it grows we may open a simple way to sign up for specific sessions, and they would appear here.
The work is funded by the work. Buying a piece, lending time, or backing what comes next all pay for the next test.
CROWDFUNDING, AS AN INTENTION
Back a future fund.
Some of the equipment the studio needs is beyond what selling a few cups can cover, and some tests need funding to run at all. The intention is to open a small campaign later, to fund specific equipment and specific projects, with the costs and results published in the open like everything else here. There is nothing to back yet. When there is, this list is where it will be announced first.
CROWDFUNDING
Register interest.
Leave your email to hear first if and when a fund opens. No ask yet, no goal, no platform named.
OPEN AND ONGOING
However you support the work, the recipes and results behind it are published in the open, for anyone to read, repeat, and add to. See the open research.