TechWeek: Upcycling for Innovation

Posted: 18/11/2020

Digital Jersey TechWeek 2020 asked Islanders to share their reflections on digital culture with a piece of original design work. It was a great year for us all to reflect as we adapted to the pandemic-world and the huge disruptions and technological upheaval it has caused.

We had a fantastic range of entries, and you can view the winners here. One man decided to show what could be done with ‘old’ hardware, to upcycle items that were no longer being used and turn them into something new.

‘I always wanted to do something a bit crazy and I had a bit of spare time, so I bought a second hand table from The Hospice Shop for £55, and took an old 55 inch screen and Lenovo laptop and created a Tech Table. I wanted to show people that if you have old hardware you can do something different with them rather than just dump them.’

Stuart was also keen to show the diversity of the digital industry, ‘Technology is not just about coding and websites there is a wider picture, I love the hardware side of it. People understand iPhones and Macs but to get to the latest iPhone we have got to go through a lot of old tech and the table was to show it can be repurposed in a different way.’

The Tech Table is a screen mounted in a table and operated by pieces taken out of the laptop. ’I’m not a carpenter but I can be handy with my hands. It’s different and it’s functionable and useable. The main thing was I had fun making it.’

Stuart even created a website to showcase the building of the Tech Table, at techtables.co.uk. He had some words of encouragement for others.

‘Just give it a go. Don’t be frightened of hardware, the worst you can do is break it and then you can fix it and that’s the same with software. It’s about not having that fear of getting it wrong, just give it a go.’

What’s Stuart doing with the tech table? He said he’d be happy to see it go to a school, or if someone wants to make him an offer for charity, they can buy it.

Stuart Moseley has a background in computer hardware in the Channel Islands, having run a pan-island business from Guernsey for many years, before selling the company. He arrived in Jersey just before lockdown with the aim of starting a new business here. Despite the Covid disruption, he was able to secure a business licence.

‘I was very impressed with how Digital Jersey and the States of Jersey engaged during the lockdown and allowed me to make plans for the future and the launch of my new business, ITHSCI. To get a business licence during the Covid lockdown was amazing.’

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