Makerversity has always offered 20% of all memberships for free, as part of our residency programmes – Under 30’s and Makers with a Mission. Here we take a look at the latest Makers with a Mission cohort joining Makerversity for 6 months free membership and support.

Akashdeep Deb - Starmoon AI

Founder of Starmoon AI, Akashdeep Deb, is reimagining pediatric hospital care by replacing passive screen time with interactive AI-powered toys that offer personalised engagement, all under medical supervision, to ease children’s stress and anxiety.

Akash, currently based in London, has lived in the US, UAE, and India. Attending the University of Ilinois at Urbana-Champagain to study Computer Engineering. While at UIUC, he interest at Coursera, which gave him extensive experience in building Education Technology Products. After graduating, Akash moved to San Francisco, working at Blend Labs and Asana, before co-founding HeyHaddock.com, an AI-powered travel platform where people designed 6,000+ AI curated trips. Since then Akash has moved to the UK with his venture Starmoon AI which he is developing on his 6 month free residency at Makerversity.

In my free time, you’ll find me reading, watching youtube tutorials with my guitar, or powerlifting (my PBs are: 400 lb squat, 275 lb bench, 485 lb deadlift). I’m thrilled to be part of Makerversity’s Makers with a Mission program growing Starmoon AI, two weeks in, the community here has already inspired me. If you’d like to chat, reach out anytime!

You can follow the work Askash is doing here! And check out Starmoon AI Here.

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Saskia Lenaerts

As an advocate for a cross-cultural and borderless world, Saskia uses her design practice to impact society. It aims for a transnational way of life by disarming prejudice. Demonstrating both our cultural differences and commonalities, her work is a celebratory juxtaposition of diversity. Before achieving a master’s degree in Fashion Menswear from Central Saint Martins (2020), Saskia studied at the Antwerp Academy and Kingston School of Art.

She is the recipient of the 2018 Considered Design Award, the 2019 L’Oréal Professionnel scholarship, the 2022 Big Design Award Tokyo and the Milan Fashion Film Festival Award 2023. Over the past four years showcasing her repurposed collections both at London and Lisbon Fashion Weeks.

Saskia is currently on the Winter / Spring cohort of Makers with a Mission with her mission Threads for Transformation, a social design engagement, research and reintegration project in The Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Collaborating with Business For Better Society, Remember Youth for Change and Image director “Vitoria De Mello Franco” she is using therapeutic design and deconstruction methods as a vehicle for social healing to destigmatize victims of conflict and war and generate regenerative income streams.

For 18+ years the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has been embroiled with a bitter war that has affected over 40,000 children from the ages of 6-16. Threads for Transformation, founded in 2024, addresses the socio-economic challenges caused by this war. Their fully circular process integrates source materials, design, education, production, purchase, and reuse while also providing mental-health counselling. Throughout the 6 month residency at Makerversity, Saskia is using the fashion workshop to develop her projects, alongside utilising the community and event spaces to organise events around this topic and the work they are doing with Threads of Transformation.

You can follow the work Saskia is doing here, and find out more about Thread of Transformation Here.

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Marie-Louise Jones

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Marie-Louise Jones is an artist navigating intersections of art, industry, and ecology, manifesting as sculpture, installation, image-making, and participatory practice. Marie-Louise has exhibited internationally, with institutions including; Barbican Centre, Saatchi Gallery, and Tate Modern. Recent awards include; East London Impact Scholars Award, Arts Council England awards, The Davidson Prize, Ingram Prize, and a scholarship LabVerde Residency in the Amazon Rainforest. In 2021 she completed her Fine Art Masters at Central St Martins as a recipient of the prestigious Mona Hatoum Scholarship, and after graduating went on to become Mona Hatoum's assistant.

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Marie-Louise's work covers a vast range of projects, from exploring bio-crete recipes using reprocessed waste mussel shells to create a concrete-like materials, (which was part of programme at BLAST studios along with 17 other artists, scientists, architects, and designers) to creating living sculptures with 3D printed recycled plant-based bioplastic.

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During her residency at Makerversity Marie-Louise will be spending time in our Materials Lab and Digital Fabrication, developing a material that incorporates a recycled industrial waste by-product and living organisms to create Symbiotic Structures. A material innovation project with the potential to create urban greening installations that rethink urban art, architectures and ecologies. Her long-term vision is to create symbiotic structures with multispecies materialities to reimagine the built environment for more bio-inclusive futures.

You can find Marie-Louise's extensive portfolio of projects here, and follow what she's up to here!

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Matt & Adam - WEB

WEB, standing for We Eat Beans is a craft and sewing label run and founded by Matt Harrop and Adam Stinson. Collaborating with an ever-growing community of artists and crafters, WEB focuses on developing and sharing sustainable practices.

WEB was born out of a kitchen in Brighton, skill sharing, knowledge sharing, and experimenting with patterns and sewing techniques. WEB has now grown, sewing mainly bike-orientated bags, clothes, and accessories, using exclusively upcycled, deadstock, and locally sourced fabrics.

WEB are on the 6 month residency at Makerversity, utilising the access to a fashion workshop to develop ideas and grow their collection. Over this period they're looking to expand their brand and capacity to work on commissions, whilst being surrounded by a community of creatives and makers.

You can check out WEB's work and made to order pieces here!