This is sad! Tinker is closing (by Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, CEO and Co-Founder). Tinker were pioneers in the design and creation of the Internet of Things — you can see from their projects that they’ve run the gamut from fun, interactive, physical installations, to useful smart objects for the home. Through workshops, publicity and use, Tinker was also instrumental in popularising Arduino, a valuable and open source electronics platform for prototyping interactive objects, aimed at designers and hobbyists. That’s a big deal. As computation fills the products and rooms around us, it has to happen in simple, delightful, and mainstream ways. How to do it? As a thoughtful design studio with massive technical chops, Tinker was making those discoveries for us, and helping others make those discoveries for themselves.
On a personal note, we’re friends and neighbours with those at Tinker (we’ve shared a building for the last couple of years), and it’s not going to be the same in the London scene without Tinker’s presence.
However!
Read Alex’s valedictory blog post again: at least three little entities are blossoming out of Tinker already, and the old team will have their own journeys too. Tinker’s ideas, knowledge and sensibilities will spread widely and influence many companies, both new and established, and that can only be a good thing.
Thank you Alexandra! As she says, Onwards!
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