Raw Revamp

Across the Summer of 2021, Raw Material handed over the keys of our Brixton hub to local young people aged 11 - 18 for ‘Raw Revamp’ - an ambitious interior design project.

The project was dreamt up after the team agreed that the standing interior of tired looking graffiti, old photos and abstract artwork no longer reflected Raw and its communities today. This project felt like a wonderful excuse to hand over the building to local artists and community members, giving them a sense of pride and ownership of the space.

Following an open call for lead artists to deliver the project, we invited a brilliant young architecture and design start-up called G2XRCM and two exciting ‘street’ artists Atila and Fiya. Additionally at the suggestion of our Trustee Yomi Sode, Raw held a call out for a ‘writer in residence’ to creatively document the project. Emerging writer Julia Hien created her own new work in response to the project.

Over the course of Revamp we had 22 young people involved. They contributed to 4 planning & design sessions across July and August and then ‘took over’ the building for the last 2 weeks of August. They created dozens of new artworks during the process including our actual building spaces. The result was a series of fantastic vibrant spaces which we shared at a jubilatory launch event in early September.