About us

Theories was founded on the 13th of July 1983 by John Alderson and Jerry Cooper.

We worked in the beginning from desks on our respective stair landings in our homes and garnered a small supply of tools that were stored in an old VW van parked in the street. We took on painting and decorating jobs as well as garden maintenance and a stint as a bicycle courier to make ends meet.

From small beginnings

Both John and Jerry had developed our ‘build’ skills on short life housing projects in Hackney where we had been a part of a cooperative that had renovated a row of derelict houses. We both found that we enjoyed the transition of an idea into fact by act of our hands, and the ability to stand back at the end of the day and see a ‘product’. Design and build entered our DNA.

John was a qualified teacher and had a Sculpture degree. Jerry had obtained a BA and Diploma in Architecture but had been disillusioned by the limitations of the office reality.

John and Jerry forged their partnership working on a Community Garden project in Hackney Grove E8 that we built over a period of 1.5 years. We discovered that the needs of the more elderly and younger residents were not necessarily mutually exclusive but could be subliminally reconciled into one space. It taught us that play can take place anywhere and that the quality of the space can be more conducive to a variety of play activities than the so-called play equipment itself.

And so, play theory informed our name. The theory was simple. Make beautiful spaces in which children would enjoy and feel comfortable and safe playing.
Play; we maintained, was an activity that took place between children and did not necessarily have to rely upon play apparatus. Indeed; we maintained that the concept underlying the design of modern play equipment itself was based upon a rather simplistic Victorian attitude towards children’s health and physical development that drew nothing from children’s ability to play with each other imaginatively.

‘Theories’ was initially funded as a part of the Enterprise Allowance scheme, devised by a Conservative government, to encourage young entrepreneurs off the dole to start their own small businesses. We were given a grant the equivalent of the dole @ £40/week for 1 year.

We placed a great deal of importance in our designs upon the natural environment as a play resource, incorporating landscape features and planting wherever budgets or clients agreed. Hence the title ‘Theories Landscapes’. In this way we hoped to create more intimate spaces that encouraged imagination play activities as well as providing a means for children to engage with nature.

We also observed that children played in different ways and needed a range of possible play solutions and activities. For instance, we often noticed that girls would sit directly opposite each other to socialise whilst boys often sat predominantly adjacent to each other in a perhaps less intimate way. So, we devised a range of seating configurations to suit this observation. For instance, some children were happy to run around for an hour screaming or kicking a ball while others sat or stood, if there were no seats, quietly against a wall at the edge. So, we devised quiet as well as active play areas, or encouraged the school to provide library wagons and play props.

I feel that we were somewhat ahead of our times and found ourselves up against a school’s unimaginative or undemanding commissioning bodies whose play expectations were limited to the catalogues of generic manufactured play equipment. Playtime is an activity that often takes-up more time in the school day than the classroom itself and yet continues to be treated as a simple exercise yard to waste time and expend surplus energy before returning to the classroom.

John left Theories in 2003 to pursue his own brand of play design. Jerry continued to lead Theories until his retirement in 2016 as its sole director but had always been supported by highly skilled and motivated design and build teams without whom Theories could never have been as successful.

Theories was then taken over by ex-employees Jacek Maklakiewicz who continue to steer it to greater success to this day.

Theories’ fortunes have ebbed and flowed over the decades bending with the prevailing play funding climate, political agendas and not least COVID.

From 1983 till 2023, 40 years, Theories has survived, developed, changed but continues to thrive offering an alternative spectrum of play solutions, and long may it continue.