Every day at lunchtime, about a dozen professional women step away from their workplaces to pick up hammers at Brit + Co.'s Makeshop in Union Square. At the Makeshop ("A place to make and shop"), groups of twenty- and thirtysomethings who range from jewelry designers to tech workers get together to hone their arts and crafts. They work on projects such as origami paper flowers, terrariums using LEGO mini-figures, and 3D-printed resin nametags.
"It's grown-up playtime," says Sarah Torney, a research manager at marketing firm Ipsos ASI. This year, at Brit + Co.'s annual Remake Fair, Torney painted cork coasters, decorated prop cookies, and made light-up, battery-operated greeting cards. "You could describe it as DIY heaven," she says.
While Torney and many Brit + Co. enthusiasts tend to just dabble in maker culture, artists in residence at Autodesk — a different kind of maker's nirvana that offers access to more than 100 production-quality 3D printers, laser cutters, hand and electric tools — approach their workshop as an inventor's toolbox.
"I prototyped a water conservation device that uses low-cost electronics to help give a usage breakdown of consumption throughout an entire house," says William Buchanan, product development engineer for Zep Solar/Solar City. While in residency at Autodesk, Buchanan also happened to build the world's largest mechanical flip-book and a cutting board based on designs by MC Escher. Other residents are working on LED couture dresses that are popular at Burning Man, 3D-printed honeycombs that serve as homes for dispaced bees, and water-monitoring devices that help moderate water consumption.
The Autodesk residents' projects may be completely different, but their use of the machinery bonds them. In some ways, the workshop is like a part-time summer camp, except the glue and popsicle sticks have been replaced with million-dollar machinery. The artists share everything from ideas to ingredients at their Sandwich Club, a lunchtime tradition in which residents bring ingredients for communal gourmet sandwiches.
For computer-aided design engineer Aaron Porterfield, the residency is a way to experiment with new materials, including 3D-printed textiles and flexible laser-cut wood. He finds that the printers have a "blocky, Erector Set" appearance and feeling. For makers, it's all about play that yields something new. "Part of it reminds me of building with Legos as a kid," he says. "Figuring out how to build what you want with the bricks you have was always a challenge."
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