PEOPLE POWERED FLOUR MILL by designer Fergus Walker

The People Powered Flour Mill is a bicycle-driven grain grinding mill designed to connect the community to its local food production.


Its purpose is education and inspiration: children, parents, grandparents can all come and take part, they themselves providing that vital link between fields of wheat and loaves of bread. This mill is destined for the town of Falkland in Fife, where it will be used for milling demonstrations and baking workshops.


Since flour loses nutrients within hours of being milled, putting the grinding nearer to the baking brings additional health benefits that are lost at a larger scale. With its flexible drive shaft, the mill could be plugged into any power source for more continuous milling.


Conversely, the bicycle could potentially power a range of appliances, essentially harnessing the calories wasted in fitness gyms and channelling them straight back into food production

Fergus Walker:
"I believe there is a need for a new generation of designers, who strive to create designs which forge a connection with community and place. The consideration of social and ecological profit, rather than economic profit, should be central to the design process.


There is a need to re-involve the people, and to re-empower them. Users of 'products' should have more say in the design process; and communities need to regain control of production, starting with food."


www.ferguswalker.com