Welcome to Technocroft
Design Education Consultancy
About Technocroft Ltd
Technocroft Ltd was established in 2001 by James Kean to develop and promote the Liveman Snowanchor following the success of his Churchill Fellowship to Norway in 2000. Since then Technocroft has widened its scope to produce other outdoor and artisan wooden products.
Adirondeck™ Chairs
These comfortable, strong and durable garden chairs are inspired by the hugely popular American garden chairs from the Adirondack hills in the state of New York. The original design by Thomas Lee in 1903 was made from some planks he had available at his holiday house.
Wooden Chains
These wooden chains are a unique design which encourages you to experiment with shape and form. They are extremely tactile; people love the feel of them, and the clacking sound made by the links as they slide past each other in the shaping process.
Glenelg to Skye Ferry
Buy a handmade model of the MV Glenachulish, the last manually operated turntable ferry in the world.
Forthographic™ Contact Street
A sequence of 36 exposures of the houses on the street is taken by James Kean using a Pentax SLR camera loaded with monochrome 35mm film. The film is then developed and printed onto a contact sheet and then mounted in the unique frame, showing each house in the row, numbered with the correct negative sequence number.
Liveman Snowanchor
The original Technocroft product since 2000. Use it as a snow belay device or as a snow shovel and only have to carry one piece of kit.
This dual-purpose mountain rescue tool improves your winter mountain safety. The Liveman is quick, easy and safe to use as a snow anchor and also functions as a snow shovel for digging snow holes.
Seascape Sketch Pads
Get a different perspective on drawing by using a new layout of sketch pad.
Why do nearly all sketch pads constrain us to the A-size system when many of us want to create artwork that isn’t in that format?
Long landscape pads for seascapes, or tall portrait format for lighthouses- these pads will let your imagination roam.
About James Kean
James was born and raised in the North of Scotland. After completing an engineering degree in Aberdeen he worked as a fishfarmer in Assynt. After teacher training at Moray House he returned to the North West where he taught for over 20 years at Plockton High School specialising in woodwork and product design.
James designed the Liveman Snowanchor™ in 2000, and exhibited his own wood creations for the first time at the Lochalsh Art Fair in 2011. He’s now a regular exhibitor at Porty Art Walks and the Portobello Farmers Market.
James is also very into teaching people about creativity, and has written and published books on Intellectual Property, 3D printing and “How to be an Inventor”.
He now lectures in engineering at Edinburgh College, where he enthuses the students in design and the use of 3D printers for their projects.
He has two grown up children, lives in Portobello and is also obsessed by bikes (pedal and motor).