Valli van Zijl - Métier

A woman stands in high vis and white hard hat in front of building supplies on a building site

Métier chapter 3 - placemaker

The third chapter of Métier focuses on placemaker Valli van Zijl. After years working within social housing, Valli now works as a placemaker in East London, on a large site next to the River Lea. With the conversation ranging from her early career in South Africa, to embedding herself for years in an area to understand it better, Valli describes her life designing a neighbourhood that people want to live in. With responsibilities ranging from commissioning and working with artists to design pathways, to choosing who runs the schools in the new community, Valli offers a fascinating human glimpse behind the blanket label of 'developer'.

The full interview podcast for this chapter can be found below the film.

Métier is a film and podcast series celebrating women and their work, created with gallery director Rosie Murdoch. Visit www.emmacrouch.co.uk/metier for more chapters on the project.

July 2017

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Raw Materials: wood

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Dormez-Vous?: Susan Aldworth