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Making Time: Every Prison A Creative Hub

Hoxtonian Gallery, London
November 2024 to February 2025

Making Time: Every Prison A Creative Hub showcased recent creative design education initiatives inside UK prisons. Co-curated by Lorraine Gamman, Professor of Design and Director, Design Against Crime Research Lab at Central Saint Martins, in collaboration with Love Print.

A narrated walk through the Making Time exhibition with Carlotta Allum. Download the audio description [MP3, 426KB] for this film.

Featured projects

  • a series of brightly coloured posters
    Designed by Here Design in collaboration with Design Against Crime Research Centre

    'Black Heroes' Posters  

    "Who do you admire? Who are your heroes? Who might inspire you to change?" These are the questions we asked inmates at HMP Isis. Then we worked with design agency Here to bring this list of heroes to life in a series of posters shown during Black History Month.


  • The Unlocked Room  

    Drawing on their experience of writing and delivering curriculum at Central Saint Martins, Lucy Alexander and Tim Meara designed two pilot courses in design for textiles and fashion that they delivered to a group of eight young men at HMP Isis, working alongside CSM students.

  • A person with back to the camera engaging with colourful printed materials on a wall.
    Working on the Untold identity. Photo: Here Design.

    Here Design: Untold Brand Identity  

    Young men at the HMP ISIS Young Offender Institution in South East London designed an award-winning brand identity for the charity Untold.

  • Exhibition visitors engaging with a poster of the Flip Chair design at Making Time.
    The Flip Chair was co created with HMP Standford Hill prisoners, prison staff and Ministry of Justice staff and the Design Against Crime team at Central Saint Martins, including Jeffrey Doruff, Adam Thorpe, Zoe Kahane and Lorraine Gamman.

    Cell Furniture: The Flip Chair

    An output of the 2018-2023 Cell Furniture project, Flip Chair was co-designed by the Design Against Crime team with prisoners and prison staff from HMP Standford Hill.

  • A dark green and blue kimono jacket with a paisley pattern next to a poster with a close-up of the pattern and information about the design and make. A blue panel nearby has the caption in white text
    Kimono jacket, Making for Change, HMP Downview. Exhibited at Making Time: Every Prison a Creative Hub

    Making for Change: The Kimono Jacket  

    This kimono jacket was designed and made by a prisoner on the Making for Change training and production programme established in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and London College of Fashion, UAL in 2014.

  • A poster with text and images of people. The title text states Cards that Communicate: Creative Workshops
    Cards That Communicate Workshop

    Cards That Communicate  

    Cards that Communicate encouraged prisoners at HMP Isis and HMP Pentonville to send a hand-made tangible item to a loved one, designed using low-tech approaches such as cut and paste collage techniques and simple mark-making.

  • An illustration of an open book with illustrated pages
    Open Book, Goldsmiths, University of London.

    Open Book  

    Based at Goldsmiths, University of London, Open Book is a hub for education, support, and research, with the goal of making teaching and learning - at all levels - open and accessible to everyone.

  • STRETCH materials at the Making Time exhibition

    STRETCH: The Story Inside  

    Watch the trailer for a series of films co-created by Carlotta Allum with individual prisoners from HMP Thameside, HMP Peterborough, HMP Isis and more recently with prisoners from the Neurodivergent wing at HMP Pentonville.