Flux Laser & CNC Studio

Founded in 2012 by Phil Longstaff and Alice Jacobs, graduates of Glasgow School of Art’s Sculpture and Environmental Art course, Flux provides specialist facilities and  hands on services for creatives working with laser machinery, CNC routers and vinyl cutters.

With the ability to laser cut and engrave up to 600x900mm, CNC cut and engrave up to 1200x1200mm and cut vinyl up to a width of 1350mm, the possibilities of what can be created are infinite…

Q&A with Alice Jacobs, co-founder of Flux

How much did your course influence your decision to set up a studio like Flux?

Being at art school is not just about learning to draw, paint and sculpt, I think it teaches you to think outside the box. We saw ourselves, friends and other students using exciting technologies like laser cutting throughout their degree but with few affordable and approachable facilities to use post graduation. It was a gap in the market we were both interested in, so we wrote a business plan, took the leap and set up 2 months after graduation.

What made you decide to stay and set up here in Glasgow and not elsewhere?

It seemed the best place for us to be! At the time, The Whisky Bond was in the process of being redeveloped and we thought it was the ideal building to be in (we were so keen in fact, we were the first ones in). Since we’ve started up, we’ve developed a huge customer base all over the world, from as close to home as the Glue Factory all the way to Australia.

Can you tell us a little about some of the machines in your studio?

They are all named after our tutors and technicians from our old department at GSA: Russell – the original laser machine– the faithful and reliable work horse, a 600x900mm CO2 laser machine. The next machine to arrive was Alan, the 1200mm Vinyl Plotter, allowing us to expand into vinyl signage and exhibition displays for artists and galleries. Brian the 1200x1200mm CNC Router meant that we could cut larger and thicker items, up to 24mm thick Wood and Plastics. After moving into a larger studio in The Whisky Bond, earlier this year, we expanded again and got Sue, the 2nd 600x900mm laser machine. The naming was always meant as a compliment to our tutors, but we are not sure all of them were flattered.

There are so many creative possibilities with laser cutting and CNC routering, can you tell us about one of the most exciting projects you have worked on?

We’ve worked with Michael Morrison from Fourth Floor Furniture to provide branding on Oak veneered boxes for a limited edition run of Single Malt. As the designs developed between us, the finished product was front, side and back panels to be laser engraved with logos and text, to be built by Fourth Floor Furniture into a beautiful casing to hold a 51 year old bottle of Scotch, 200 of these boxes were laser engraved over the period of 6 weeks, over 300 hours of machine time.

Not only is it a beautiful finished product, one of the really exciting things was combining our knowledge of the laser machines along with Michael’s knowledge of working with wood and cabinet making, developing from the initial single logo, through to a market-ready product.

What is your favourite part in the process of laser and CNC cutting?

That first time you take the item of the machine; you may have spent so long designing it, refining and perfecting the fle on a computer screen, nothing beats holding it in your hands, then passing that onto the customer. Often getting things laser cut or CNC routered is really far down the line for our customers, having test- ed or exhausted all options, and it can sometimes be a huge relief for people to discover a way in which to drastically speed up their production and that is a fantastic thing we can offer people.

What would be your dream project to work on together?

Personally, I would say that I love working with jewellers. The minuteness of the designs and intricacies of it work perfectly with the laser’s 0.01mm accuracy. I think Phil will say the opposite and say something big, thick and more industrial!

Together, as we approach design and ideas from different backgrounds and viewpoints, I think we work well as a team, Alice focussing on the smaller details, whilst Phil looking at the bigger picture. In terms of dream project, anything that we manufacture or are part of the design process that ends up in a gallery or on a shelf in a shop is a dream come true only 2 years after setting up Flux.

Flux are based in studio 3.1 on the 3rd floor of The Whisky Bond.

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Tel- 07793 436 186