BETT and Arckit Rebirth
We’ve only just returned from an exhilarating BETT Education Show in London. Where do I start? Let me go back just a bit. When I first had that lightbulb moment for Arckit a few moons ago, I believed that not only could it benefit my fellow architects as a quick, easy and reusable alternative for making working architectural models but more importantly, that it had the potential to open up the possibility for anyone to spontaneously explore and visualise their very own architectural ideas.
I could clearly see the fun, practical, educational and even therapeutic qualities embodied within it as an open ended design tool but what I didn’t know back then was where Arckit’s destiny lay. In order to try and find that out, I attended a bunch of trade shows as a form of ‘speed dating’ for hopeful new products. Grand Designs Live Show in London was the first stop and where Arckit was christened ‘architects/sophisticated Lego’ and which it continues to frequently be referred to today. From the outset, it was understood to be more advanced and realistic in nature than any other model building block in the marketplace.
We exhibited at building shows, toy shows, educational shows and before we knew it, Arckit was whisked off her feet with a 500 store order from Barnes and Noble in the US. The initial years in the toy sector were very exciting, we were amongst the first disruptors in the industry with Arckit being awarded the very first ’STEAM Accreditation’ stamp of approval in the history of the toy association.
Seeing Arckit on the shelves of some of the most beautiful stores in the world will be something I will always be extremely proud of. Nonetheless these were also very challenging years on a number of levels including being a completely new brand trying to compete with the giants of the industry. I had never set out with the intention of inventing a toy, Arckit evolved purely from an idea I had to improve how we could build better, more affordably and more efficiently in future and so in my heart of hearts, I believed that Arckit’s true destiny was in education.
Covid afforded us time to re-evaluate and take the bold decision to pivot all of our efforts towards advancing Arckit as a highly educational design tool for schools, maker spaces, libraries and for home learning. Over these past two years we have attended the two big ed tech shows, ISTE Show in the US and BETT Show in London and thankfully our unique platform and curriculum have been embraced with open arms by a sector who believes in Arckit just as much as we do. One affirmation of such trust and confidence was by our incredible partner from Hong Kong, Connie and Educational Technology Connections HK.
As part of their delegation at BETT, they brought over a dozen students and their teachers to be on our stand throughout the course of the show demonstrating a variety of ‘Smart Building’ projects using Arckit with other technologies including Sam Labs & micro:bit. It was an immense privilege and an invaluable education to spend time with all of the students as they enthusiastically explained their amazing projects to a very eager audience. And to hear from them and their teachers about how Arckit has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for them, was deeply heartfelt.
Over the course of a non-stop three days, we met with our wonderful current partners and hopeful new partners, decision makers and educators seeking meaningful STEM teaching tools like Arckit, and both hardware & software businesses who see a natural synergy with our platform and theirs. Of course the hard work always begins after the highs of any successful show but two years in to our ‘Arckit rebirth’ as I like to call it, we are returning home more excited than ever for what’s next.
Copy the links below to check out some of the projects by the students from Hong Kong on our YouTube channel.
Arckit Smart Home Design with micro:bit
https://youtube.com/shorts/Go_OLFnMDv8?si=MzAVh_-h9xITgA_P
Arckit Smart School with Sam Labs
https://youtu.be/aD4_OYgpivE?si=dGui4satE5jacDr3
Arckit Smart Home by 9yr old Chloe and William
https://youtube.com/shorts/2jKMF5hKk5I?si=rb1P9CboPAs1Rb1o
Arckit Smart Home Iot with micro:bit
https://youtu.be/rfIMlbEEpUo?si=ZshgvspIf0Tww5ay
Arckit Smart Classroom with Sam Labs
https://youtu.be/n8UulmxQ4C0?si=p49LRmN6-l4zP2gN
Today Arckit is inspiring our next generation of creative thinkers in all corners of the world. If you are interested in partnering or bringing Arckit’s platform of endless possibilities to your school, institution or maker space, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch via info@arckit.com
For US & Canada - us.arckit.com
For EU and rest of world: www.arckit.com
For UK: www.arckit.co.uk