The Printers won’t kill the Pin Factory To hear some of the talk around 3D printers one could be forgiven for thinking they’ll transform us all into a collection of skilled artisans creating in our bedrooms. Regardless of what one makes of other spectres that have been raised (neighbours running off 3D guns and the undermining of copyright) this seems an undeniably attractive image. Though it probably won’t be quite like that in reality, for a rather old-fashioned reason....

In the 1970s, London’s Docklands area stretched empty and derelict east of the city centre. The wharves that had provided employment for tens of thousands standing deserted for mile upon mile along the Thames. The shift to containers for shipping had made the docks too small and put them out of business. To fill this vacuum came what was then the largest regeneration scheme in Europe. The redevelopment of the docks, heavily underpinned by government tax breaks, was mainly focused on financial services, pre-digital media i....