Makers and Hackers around the world are building public and private spaces that serve as meeting places for creation, experimentation and creative disruption. Innovative and useful tools such as 3D printers, drones, resilient farming tools, robots, and software are increasingly being churned out by these bottom-up, grass roots, collaborative teams of diverse individuals.
Dublin has a new maker space called MakeShop, and it sounds wonderful:
"While the target audience is 15- to 25-year-olds, people of all ages can attend the drop-in workshops. Adults and children sit side-by-side and there is a quiet sense of community interrupted by sudden bursts of laughter and excitement. Fionn Kidney of the Science Gallery says it’s about “Taking DIY and turning it into ‘Doing it Together’. It’s about developing a spark of discovery. We want to help young people find their interests.” Fundamentally, he says, MakeShop is about getting hands-on and creative, encouraging questioning and conversation.
"Niall Hunt a 14-year-old from Sandymount in Dublin was making a badge – incorporating soldering techniques with learning about circuits by connecting LED lights to a battery. “I’ve always wanted to try soldering but never had the chance before,” says Niall, who likes the idea of a space where people can try out new things. With an interest in DIY, Niall’s dad John says that MakeShop provides access to materials he wouldn’t have at home as well as being an “ideas space”.
“I think it’s important to use our hands to take things apart, to figure out how things work and to fix things rather than constantly throwing stuff out.”
“Technology has now got to a stage where you can be creative very easily,” says Fionn Kidney. “Components are more readily available and low cost, so it makes things more accessible.” Aside from basic workshops, MakeShop also plan to run premium workshops including 3D printing, papercraft for model making and Arduino (a microcontroller platform that can be used to control everything from computers to household appliances).”
I love the contrast between the new-aesthetic logo and the classic European storefront.
Read more at the Irish Times…