RocketWorks: Children’s Work Takes Over Mayfair

In June 2022, projects created by children from Chelsea Pre-Prep, Kingsland Pre-Prep and Grand West Pre-Prep left the Pre-Preps and entered Unit X, a gallery in Mayfair. RocketWorks brought together artworks, designs and investigations developed across the schools, presenting them with the care usually associated with a professional exhibition. Ocean dioramas made with recycled plastics appeared alongside dolls’ houses from our No Toys Week project, and garments reimagined during our Rocket Design Week. Each piece offered a glimpse into the materials, choices and questions that had shaped its creation, inviting visitors to consider the thinking behind the work and making children's voice and perepctive visible to others, rather than simply focusing on its finished appearance.

The exhibition culminated in a charity auction, with proceeds supporting Maggie’s, Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, The Felix Project and Little Village. Children’s creative work was given a public audience while contributing to causes beyond the schools, connecting artistic authorship with community responsibility. 

RocketWorks also provided an early public platform for Rocket’s IDEAS cyle, our own take on Design Thinking: Imagine, Design, Experiment, Adapt, Share. The gallery did not turn children into designers; it offered a different setting in which their existing capabilities could be recognised. The project remains an important example of Rocket Productions belief in children as active contributors to cultural and community life.