MakerS as innovaTors Chapter 1 Makers Makers Everywhere I magine a place where it’s totally normal to shoot rockets see robots do backflips and feel the heat of fire-breathing sculptures It is a place where some people travel by unicycle while others wearing lab coats and safety glasses drop candy into bottles of soda setting off fountains of bubbles in time to music From T-shirt silk-screening to dinosaurs made out of scrap metal there’s something to tickle your imagina tion at every turn As you wander through tents you watch machines sew designs onto cloth kids learn to solder and a robot carve blocks of wood into toys Everywhere you go people are eager to show you what they’re doing Sometimes you can even take a turn at making stuff yourself Where are you You’re at a Maker Faire For hundreds of years people have come together at special events to chat share show off learn and enjoy one another’s company Over the centuries 4
5 Maker Faire these events have taken many names They include expositions market days and fairs A Maker Faire is a modern version of those historic events It combines the old term faire with the new term maker a person who invents creates or fabri cates something The people at Make magazine run or license these events around the country A Maker Faire is part exhibition part learning workshop and part celebration It’s a place where imagination is prized Presenters at a Maker Faire in Queens New York used Mentos candies to make soda shoot from bottles into the air
MakerS as innovaTors A Jeep covered in Legos Why not It’s a Maker Faire above all Everyone is welcome at a Maker Faire Whether you’re there to admire to learn or to share you are a valuable addition to a Maker Faire You can find Maker Faires all across the globe They began in places that were famous for being hubs of invention The very first Maker Faire was held in 2006 in California They have also been held in places such as New York City Austin Texas Detroit Michigan Kansas City Missouri Atlanta Georgia and 6
Maker Faire Seattle Washington Some are located in foreign coun tries Some Maker Faires are big-budget multiday events Others known as Mini Maker Faires take place only on a Saturday Maker Faires of all sizes have two things in common makers and people who enjoy see ing what makers create Who Are the Makers at the Maker Faire There are as many different types of makers at a Maker Faire as there are inventions in the world There are individual makers with one or two creations to show off Some makers come in groups with several people working on larger projects Some makers are amateurs Others make things for a living Makers also have a wide range of experience Some have just started to learn about the field in which they work while others may have been at it for decades At the 2012 Maker Faire in New York City more than 60 percent of the people there had never visited a Maker Faire before The people behind Maker Faire think that anyone can become a maker Maker Faire founder Dale Dougherty has said I believe we are all makers We can find all kinds of makers in our communities 7
