Creative Clerkenwell
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88 In the late 1680s, as today, London attracted many immigrants. Among these were Huguenots, French Protestants fleeing religious persecution. The Huguenots, along with the Italians, were welcomed by the British government for their craft skills. Many settled in Clerkenwell and had a huge influence on the jewellery, clockmaking and craft industries.
89 Clerkenwell is today home to more creative businesses and architects per square mile than anywhere else in the world. It has around 2,000 practitioners of architecture, almost ten percent of the UK’s profession.
90 Clerkenwell Design Week is an award-winning annual showcase of leading UK and international brands and companies. In 2018, the design community flocked to Clerkenwell with 34,060 attendees and over 300 exhibiting brands.
91 In the late 1800s, Clerkenwell was described as ‘the greenhouse of invention’. Hiram Maxim perfected the machine gun in Saffron Hill and Marconi perfected the electric telegraph. Dynamos, transformers, electric meters, torpedo engines, and speedometers were among the many inventions created in Clerkenwell.
92 The Christmas Cracker was invented in Clerkenwell. In 1847 Tom Smith, a confectionery seller in Goswell Road, brought the French idea of a bon-bon wrapped in a twist of paper over to Britain. In 1861, inspired by the ‘crack’ from a burning log, he introduced a new product line, ‘le cosaque’, or the ‘Bang of Expectation’, or crackers as we now know them. The success of the cracker enabled the business to grow and move to larger premises in Finsbury Square, employing 2,000 people by the 1890s. The company still exists today.