AutomataFest 2025

2025 was the first running of AutomtaFest, a three-day festival of automata! It was an opportunity for makers, collectors, enthusiasts, and the simply curious to experience the vibrant UK automata scene; learn from leading automatists, meet fellow enthusiasts and view some of the finest contemporary automata in action. We are planning to do it again in 2027.

See Automata

Experience up close, hand-made automata by well-known automatists.

Meet the Artists

Meet and chat with Paul Spooner, Oliver Pett, Tim Hunkin, Kim Booth, Sarah Reast and others.

Learn from Experts

Attend presentations and find out how experienced automatists approach their craft.

Buy Kits & Automata

There will be exclusive automata available as well as automata kits, books, and merchandise.

Programme Overview

AutomataFest took place on May 9th, 10th & 11th 2025. Click the links below to see the full programme for each day.

Thursday 8th May - Early Registration & Welcome Drink 5-8 pm

Friday 9th May - Doors Open 9am - Full programme of talks & discussions from 10.30 to 5.30 pm

Saturday 10th May - Doors Open 9am - Full programme of talks & discussions from 10am to 5.30 pm

Sunday 11th May - 10am - 5pm - The AutomataFest Fair: Open programme of displays, demonstrations and making activities.

There are also evening events on Friday & Saturday.

The festival will include presentations from the following speakers and more.

Confirmed guests for AutomataFest 2027: Paul Spooner, Tim Hunkin, Michael & Maria Start, Loulou Cousin, Oliver Pett, Henrietta Boex, Ryan Jenkins, Mike Petrich & Karen Wilkinson.

Above: *Circus* by Ron Fuller
Below: *Piano Player* by Peter Markey

Ron Fuller and Peter Markey

Sarah Alexander will celebrate the work of two legendary automatists, Ron Fuller and Peter Markey, both of whom are known for their seemingly simple playful work. Sarah will share some of their most well-known automata and toys alongside artifacts and early designs from Cabaret Mechanical Theatre’s collection.

Sarah Alexander

Director of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre

Cabaret Mechanical Theatre

Sarah Alexander is director of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre (CMT), which was started by her mother Sue Jackson as a small crafts shop in Falmouth, Cornwall, in 1979. Sarah continues to develop and tour the CMT automata collection in the UK and worldwide.

The State of Automata Today

Marc Horovitz will discuss the state of automata today. The two-part presentation will begin with a bit of automata history, while the second part will be an overview of automata today. This light-hearted lecture with lots of pictures should provide food for discussion afterward.

Marc Horovitz

Automatatist and Editor of
Automata Magazine

Automata Magazine was first published 2019 and today has a worldwide circulation approaching 1,000. Marc has been building automata for 20+ years and has work in museums and private collections.

Michael & Maria Start

The House of Automata

Michael and Maria Start are well known as collectors and for the restoration of antique automata through the TV show, Salvage Hunters: The Restorers. Their collection can be seen at The House of Automata in Scotland. Michael's 'instant classic' book, The Secrets of Automata: Ingenious Designs for Mechanical Life was published in 2023.

The House of Automata

Michael & Maria will present a personal introduction to their immersive world of automata. Featuring real time demonstrations of surreal antique automata and other amazing mechanical devices. They will talk about the history (briefly!) and reveal some of the surprising stories and experiences the automata have had.

This is called *ING* and is one of the things
that I’m bringING.

Paul Spooner

If you don’t count Sue Spooner, I’m the world’s expert on myself, so I intend to dilate on that subject. I’m bringing some compound objects that demonstrate a number of different mechanisms, some quite tidy and others that are an informal jumble. I’ll also expose a lot of my notebooks to scrutiny.

Paul Spooner

Automatist

Paul at CMT

P. Spooner lives in Cornwall. He made machines at art school and has been making mechanical devices as a living since the 1980s.

Automata by Kim Booth

Kim will discuss his practice of making wooden automata as a hobby, showing some of his creations and explaining how he makes them in a small Berlin cellar. What is it, that is so rewarding about dreaming up wacky ideas, then presenting the end results to friends around the corner and around the world?

Kim Booth

Automatatist and Columnist for
Automata Magazine

Kim's Twelve Tweeters (in German)

Birmingham born, Kim worked for 30 years in electronics. He learned German and translated his way to a cheerful retirement, during which he has made dozens of automata during the past 10 years.

Timberkits

Timberkits' mission is to get as many people as possible building automata and to inspire and support anyone with an urge to tinker and experiment. The presentation will describe our journey to create kits that allow folk to explore a huge variety of mechanisms and applications, and our quest for new approaches in automata.

Sarah Reast

Automatist and Columnist for
Automata Magazine

Timberkits

Sarah has been the Director of Timberkits since 2012. Her background is in design and teaching, so she brings a diverse range of skills and a playful creativity to the company. She manages the team and the development of projects, bringing together practical specialists and skills for each new challenge.

Stephen Guy

As a junk collector and obsessive charity-shop devotee, I'm on a constant hunt for interesting things to animate with a mechanism.

My talk will look at this process based on chance, its unintended consequences, spin offs, and the layers of meaning that can be gleaned from the found objects.

Stephen Guy

Automatist

Fire the Inventor

Stephen is a mechanic, repairman, artist and junk collector. His interest in automata-making began when he got a job at the legendary Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in London many years ago.

Oliver Pett

Join me on a journey as I share my pursuit of a dream to become a full-time automatist. I'll tell my stories through the automata I've made, from learning the power of celebrity endorsement to unexpected opportunities, making props for a Hollywood film and taking on my ultimate dream project.

Oliver Pett

Automatist and Columnist for Automata Magazine

Mechanical Creations

Oliver Pett lives in the Highlands of Scotland. He has been making automata full-time since 2021 under the name Mechanical Creations.

Teun de Wijs

Since I might very well be the only builder at AutomataFest displaying brick-built models, I would very much like to make a case for LEGO as a viable, practical, and fun material for crafting automata. To do this, I will delve deeply into LEGO automata history and showcase some wonderful examples by the LEGO group, myself, and my fellow LEGO automatists. Join me on this studded kinetic journey!

Teun de Wijs

LEGO Automatist and
Automata Magazine author

TonyFlow76 on YouTube

Teun de Wijs is currently 47 years old, and was born, bred, and living in Amsterdam, Holland. He caught the automata bug at an early age after reading an article about, and subsequently visiting, the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in London. He works in the technical department of the NEMO Science Museum and has been building LEGO automata since 2017.

Loulou Cousin

My main interest is making movement with simple cardboard mechanisms, and taking tinkering into schools, so that students get to play and learn mechanical movement.

What I love the most is finding humour in my illustrations and creating a story behind every character. I will be demonstrating and sharing my work throughout AutomataFest.

Loulou Cousin

Automatist

Loulou on Instagram

Loulou is a qualified art teacher and maker of things, mainly in cardboard. Cardboard is free, cheap, sustainable, and readily available. She has a ridiculously large collection of precious cardboard and is always on the lookout for more wherever she goes.

Automata in Falmouth, UK, and Gormenghast Castle, with Henrietta Boex

Falmouth, the birthplace of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, is also a centre for some of our most talented modern automatists. Not the least of these is Keith Newstead, who took only six months in early 2018 to make Gormenghast Castle.

My talk explores Keith’s genius in distilling Mervyn Peake’s densely descriptive Gormenghast trilogy into a convincing, animated 3-D visual metaphor of the whole.

Henrietta Boex

Curator

Henrietta Boex, ex-Director of Falmouth Art Gallery, is now a freelance Curator. She has recently co-curated, with Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, an exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Museum. Henrietta is also a Director of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre Learning CIC.

Lisa Slater

My joy of making has lasted over 30 years. I will show my inspirations and explain how I keep creatively refreshed. I'll take you through my process when working on bespoke commissions to create a good outcome. My mechanisms are simple and I often reuse old items to add charm.

Lisa Slater

Automatist

Lisa Slater

Lisa works in wood in her studio in Hebden Bridge, UK, creating handcrafted pieces and commissions. Her automata reflect humour through simple movements. Her influences are folk art and her love of animals.

Making some NOISE

Ivan Morgan will start by giving a brief history of how he got hooked on making automata. He will then demonstrate, with examples from his own collection, how different mechanical sound effects can be created and incorporated into automata, and how they add an additional dimension to the final pieces.

Ivan Morgan

Automatist and
Automata Magazine author

Born just a few miles from Hastings, and still living in Sussex, Ivan encountered Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in London nearly thirty years ago. Since then he has designed and built over 100 quirky automata that now make up his collection, and which he refuses to part with.

Working for CMT

I will talk about my story, working in Covent Garden for Cabaret Mechanical Theatre before it closed. I'll share some funny memories of Sue Jackson and Sarah Alexander, and discuss how the business was run in a very friendly organic way, which made it a wonderful place to work. My work was influenced by this experience as well as meeting collectors, visitors, and artist. I learned about repairing automata and running the museum in general.

Carlos Zapata

Automatist and
Automata Magazine author

I made my first automata in the late 1990s. I was offered a job at CMT by Sue Jackson and her daughter, Sarah. Before CMT closed I had begun to earn a living from it. Since then I have been making one-off pieces, often commissioned by private collectors, who want a more personal piece to be created from their ideas, or commissioned by museums who require a donation box or coin-operated automaton for visitors. These are based on historical events or figures, or on the museum's collections. My work is in private collections and museums around the world.

Stage MCs

We are delighted to have two wonderful hosts to introduce the speakers and manage the Q&A Sessions.

Marsha Shandur's passion for automata is rooted in delight but founded in storytelling. A professional storytelling and presentations coach and trainer, she has taught thousands across the world in person, as well as online to her over 50,000 followers on social media. She's had rave reviews from clients like Meta, Shopify and the Canadian Government and been featured by Forbes, the BBC and the Guardian. Before launching her business Yes Yes Marsha, she spent 15 years working as a radio DJ and music supervisor for hit TV shows and films. She has loved automata since she was a tween, saving up her pocket money for trips to CMT, and she truly can't believe her luck that she gets to be part of AutomataFest.

Find out more (and see Marsha in a lot of wigs) at YesYesMarsha.com

Mark Hayward has been an artist, tinkerer, and maker his whole life. His path to automata took decades, largely because he didn't know they existed until adulthood. Mark studied art in undergrad and graduate school, and for a living he has been a professional comedy yo-yo man for 35 years (yes really). He is a World Yo-yo Champion, a member of a World Champion Juggling Team, and a Spin Top Champion. His mom is proud. Mark has traveled the world with a yo-yo on his finger (well, mostly in his pocket), and has made more appearances on national TV than he cares to remember.