UK entrepreneur opens new hardware hub to spark an industrial boom
From textiles to sensors to sustainable materials, Michael Korn wants to turn early-stage product ideas into scalable British companies
For decades, Jews were at the heart of Britain’s “shmutter trade” – the textile and tailoring businesses that dressed post-war Britain and powered generations of Jewish entrepreneurs. Now, Michael Korn, the designer and entrepreneur behind the KwickScreen privacy system that is used in every NHS trust, is drawing on that same heritage to fuel a new kind of industrial revival.
His latest venture, Blue Garage, a 38,000-square-foot innovation hub in Lewisham, is tackling what he calls the “valley of death” – the point between early-stage research with a prototype to a viable product with real-world manufacturing, where many UK hardware start-ups fail.
“We’re brilliant at inventing things in this country, but we often fail at turning them into scalable businesses,” says Korn, a winner of the James Dyson award. “That’s the scale-up gap and it’s killing off good ideas before they have a chance to grow.”
Korn believes part of the problem lies in how the UK funds innovation. “Investors love tech and software because it scales fast and doesn’t need factories. But the companies that make real things – in advanced materials, clean technologies and high-value manufacturing – are the ones that build long-term value, jobs and resilience. We’ve lost sight of that.”
At a time when British manufacturing is under pressure from rising costs, skills shortages and fragile supply chains, Korn argues that the UK must rediscover its roots as a nation of builders and makers. “We have all the talent we need to be a world leader in manufacturing, we just need to back our innovators. The UK can’t keep exporting ideas and importing products. The next generation of great British companies need to be made here.”
Korn sits on the advisory committee of Parliament’s Manufacturing Commission, co-chaired by Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea and Bill Esterson MP, and last month (30 October) went to the House of Lords to call on the government to support small manufacturers through shared industrial infrastructure, smarter public procurement and patient capital investment.
“Britain can build again,” he says. “We’re brilliant at inventing things, now we just need to get brilliant at making them again.
Blue Garage, named after the site’s big blue loading bay doors and, as Korn puts it, “because the best ideas come out of the blue”, recently marked its one-year anniversary.
Part-funded by Lewisham Council, Blue Garage offers shared equipment, co-working studios and fabrication labs for more than 40 early-stage companies, from clean-tech innovators to AI-driven textile designers. Start-ups pay from £150 a month and get access to advanced tools, from CNC cutting and metal welding to industrial sewing machines and 3-D printers.
Among them are Staxel, an AI-powered billboard that dispenses food; a start-up developing technology to detect malaria through insect sound analysis; and several sustainable textile ventures using bioplastics and seaweed-based fibres.
“It’s a vibrant community of makers. Some are one-person teams, others are growing fast. What unites us is that we’re all ambitiously building real things and we’re all trying to solve real problems.
“The problems we see can’t be solved with just code – many startups need equipment, expertise and somewhere to make mistakes safely. Blue Garage is that missing middle ground.”
He is adamant that “the future of manufacturing will feel more local and human again. We’ll buy from people we know, made locally, made sustainably. Manufacturing is how Britain became great and it’s how we’ll build resilience again.”
A former Haberdashers’ boy, Korn, 44, studied Manufacturing Engineering at Cambridge University before completing a master’s in Industrial Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College. It was there that he developed the concept for KwickScreen, a retractable privacy and infection control screen that is now used in every NHS trust and across the US.
“I know how hard it is to take a physical idea from prototype to production. Blue Garage is the support system I wish I’d had.”
Korn credits his Jewish heritage for his entrepreneurial maker’s mindset. One grandfather fled Iraq and became an NHS doctor; another was a Holocaust survivor and tailor. “I’ve always felt I’m a mix of both – the problem solver and the maker. “Blue Garage is where those worlds meet.”
Korn hopes to spark a new generation of innovators.
“People will always need textiles and materials,” he says. “But the way we make them is changing. The future is sustainable, AI-enabled and often will be locally produced. We’re bringing that manufacturing capability back to Britain.”
The model is already attracting attention from investors, universities and corporates and Korn plans establish a new creative cluster in southeast London and then to roll the concept out nationally, with each Blue Garage creating a hub for innovative hardware scaleups tailored to regional strengths.
“If we get this right, we’ll create thousands of jobs and dozens of investable businesses. It’s about rebuilding our industrial confidence.
“The shmutter-trade built communities and futures once, now innovation and manufacturing can do it again.”
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