This article looks at a sampling of local makerspaces, an emerging national effort, and a few international initiatives.  They are all weird and wonderful.  And, although varied, they all have the same common denominator - citizens from all walks of life gathering in local spaces to explore, make, invent and solve - which is what makes them so amazing. 

The first article in this series, Pushing Back on the Gentrification of Innovation, noted that a population which believes we all have the capacity for innovative thinking is foundational to prosperity and resilience. The article calls for the recognition of the home-based and community-based innovation domain, including ‘Citizen Makerspaces’. 

The inclusive innovation model looks like this:

After posting the article, I received lots of questions about makerspaces.  Where are they? How do they work?  What equipment do they have?   Is there one in my community?

This article looks at a sampling of local makerspaces, an emerging national effort, and a few international initiatives.  The makerspaces aren’t easy to find in a google search. Complicated by the variety of names they go by- makerspace, hackerspace, hub, lab, and garage.  I found them mostly by word of mouth, with each one pointing me to the next one. They are all weird and wonderful.  And, although varied, they all have the same common denominator - citizens from all walks of life gathering in local spaces to explore, make, invent and solve - which is what makes them so amazing.  They are gatherings of people, engaged in critical thinking, to solve problems.  They talk, they test, they fail, they try again.  The end product is a solution.  But the outcome is resilience. 

Let’s take a look at what is already going on around Nova Scotia!

The Halifax Maker Space
A Creative Workshop for Everyone

The Halifax Makerspace is tucked into a small industrial mall in the outskirts of Bedford.  It is a membership supported community of people who share a workspace and who actively invite others to join. 

The intro from their website says it best: “Many of us don’t have multiple workshops populated with all kinds of tools.  A Makerspace gives you that. Plus, you get access to community of like-minded people that love to make stuff. Your project could be as simple as an LED name tag or as complex as a larger-than-life art installation. This is the place to learn how and get it done. It’s kind of like a gym for your brain.”   The Halifax Maker space has a dedicated woodworking shop, and ‘clean rooms’ for electronics, sewing, programming, researching and art.  They also have a ‘smelly room’ for their laser cutting, painting and the 3D printer.   

Adam Cox, one of the Founders of the Halifax Makerspace was inspired when he visited Site 3 Co-Laboratory in Ontario. As he tells it

“I saw their group working on an upcoming interactive art piece that involved electronics, programming, carpentry, leather work, and fireballs. It was fascinating and inspiring, and I knew I had to see if something like this could take off in Halifax…… A makerspace can be hard to describe but I often tell people it is a place to make things, learn, teach, collaborate, solve problems, and indulge in curiosity. The bulk of the making at our space can be reductively described as electronics, laser cutting, 3d printing, and woodworking. The inspiration of the makerspace is when you see those methods being used in a multitude of creative ways across many disciplines, and the collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas that happens when you get a group of makers together. I have seen laser cutting used in fine art in ways I had never dreamed of, 3D printing combined with traditional woodworking projects, and so much more.”

Adam captures the heart of the makerspace movement when he describes them as spaces for co-creation and inspiration.  The Halifax Makerspace holds regular open houses.  Check their calendar for dates!

Learn more here.

The Nova Scotia Power Maker Space in Cape Breton
From Tinkerers to Start-Ups

Co-located at the New Dawn Centre for Social

Innovation in Sydney, the Nova Scotia Power Makerspace gives Cape Breton start-ups, entrepreneurs, students and other creative minds the place, equipment, materials and education to let them design and build innovative products.   The membership-based centre is large and well-equipped and although there is a business accelerator focus, fabricators, inventors, prototypers, designers, crafters and artisans are encouraged to use the resources.

The space also has access to a number of SOLIDWORKS licenses (a 3D CAD Design Software) so that ideas can be designed and exported to a CNC machine or a 3D Printer.  Which means a maker can come in with an idea and leave with a prototype.  Pretty cool!   

Learn more here.

Mad Secret Lab
Where Weird Meets Wonderful

Down in Hubbards, Allan Carver has some pretty interesting stuff going on.  Allan started in the creative department of an ad agency but broke out and started his own business promoting client’s products and services in incredibly inventive ways.  From vending machines populated by elves, to Nova Scotia’s tallest bike, he has ways of getting your attention avnd keeping it.  And the stars of the show are the more than life-size creations he builds to carry the message.

Those creations, dinosaurs, an adult-size Star Wars Tie Fighter, gigantic bubble machines, and more, are the BIG attractions in Mad Secret Lab, Allan’s makerspace.  The public is welcome to marvel and become motivated to build their own ideas.  Allan’s credo for Mad Secret Lab is inspiring.  “Don’t be afraid of failure.  Be afraid of failing and giving up.  Say yes to new ideas and the solutions will come.”  He believes we are all innovators looking for a place to play. 

Learn more here.

Digital Mi’Kmaq
Daring to Dream

Digital Mi’kmaq is a groundbreaking Indigenous-led grassroots initiative that aims to create lasting opportunities for Indigenous youth and communities through the interplay of science, culture, education and digital skills.  The initiative is multi-pronged, delivering an enriched STEAM curriculum; hands-on-skills in Community-Based Learning Labs; project-based programs to advance ingenuity and social enterprise; and, targeted research and engagement. The primary focus is on entrepreneurship and innovation rooted in the distinctive aspects inherent to Indigenous life. 

Check out this video of a community taking hold of its future through citizen-led innovation.

Learn more here.

Windsor Maker Studio
An Art and Crafts Based Makerspace

In the words of the creators of the Windsor Makers Studio “We dreamed about it. We learned from it. Now.. we’re DOING IT!”   The Makers Studio is a community creative space where anyone can come and learn alongside their neighbour!   They have a little something for everyone.  In their own words “Join our quilting bee and learn to sew your own quilt.  Pop into the wood shop and make benches to place around our community. Want to learn how to use water-colour? We’ve got easels and brushes and painterly neighbours just waiting for you to join them!”

In Nova Scotia we have a tradition of hand-over-hand teaching and learning.  In the Windsor Maker Studio, they believe there is great value in learning from others, which is why they are committed to traditional skills and art methods.  They are excited to see the artistry and craft passed down through the generations to new learners and doers.  And so am I!

Learn more here.

The Sutherland Steam Mill Makerspace
A Bright Idea!

Located up by Tatamagouche, the Sutherland Steam Mill houses a unique concept for a makerspace.  Outfitted with work benches and an impressive assortment of Lee Valley tools, the makerspace is open - free of charge - to woodworkers in the community.  So far uptake has some room to grow, which means it may just be the time for a local woodworker to start offering workshops at the Mill.  Credit to the staff for seeing an opportunity to bring a museum to life by opening the doors to current day makers. 

Learn more here.

Imhotep’s Legacy Academy (ILA)
Nurturing Young Minds in STEM

Named after Imhotep, the architect of the first pyramid ever built in Egypt, the ILA continues that legacy with a goal of motivating African Nova Scotian youth of today to become the successful scientists, mathematicians and engineers of tomorrow.   Based on the Dalhousie Campus, with outreach and programming in five communities, the Academy provides leadership and opportunity to school age children and university students through workshops, after school programming, robotics clubs, coding camps, tutoring, scholarships and much more. A tour of the Academy reveals awards for robotics, a fully equipped makerspace, shelves with in-progress science experiments, and pictures everywhere of students engaged in active learning.  Imhotep’s Legacy Academy (ILA) also uses a brilliant tri-mentoring model which sees university professors mentor university students, who in turn mentor secondary students, all to increase the participation of students of African Heritage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  ILA is vision in action! 

Learn more here.

And Beyond Nova Scotia…

Fab Lab Nation
A Canadian Network

Fab Labs (a nifty short form for Fabrication Labs) are spaces which combine digital tools and knowledge sharing to encourage  ‘making together’. The Fab Lab movement grew out of Barcelona’s Fab Lab and what has become an international movement is now growing in Canada.

The concept is that fabrication spaces created to provide citizens with tools and spaces to learn and innovate, will in turn contribute to building strong and resilient local communities. The goal is to operationalize a Canadian Fab Labs Network; strengthen the digital skills of citizens, organizations and companies, and connect to the international Fab City movement.

Funded by a broad array of partners and sponsors, the Fab Lab Nation Tour arrives in Nova Scotia on May 2nd.  You can track the tour here: https://www.fablabsnation.ca/route/

Learn more here.

Fab Lab Barcelona

Fab Lab Barcelona is the mothership of the international Fab Lab movement.  Fab Lab Barcelona is part of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia which supports education and research programs related with the multiple scales of the human habitat. It is also the headquarters of the global Fab Academy program in collaboration with the Fab Foundation and the MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms.  “The Fab Academy is a distributed platform of education and research in which each Fab Lab operates as a classroom and the planet as the campus of the largest University in construction in the world.”

Wow!! Citizen innovation is a global movement!

Learn more here.

Every. One. Every. Day
A Participatory City Project

The Every One Every Day initiative in the East London Borough of Barking and Dagenham has a big ambition: to build the first large-scale, fully inclusive, ‘Participatory Ecosystem’ as a way to build healthy, happy and resilient neighbourhoods. Putting local people at the heart of shaping the neighbourhood, Every One Every Day has developed networks of residents working together to create inclusive neighbourhoods.  The initiative focuses on small practical projects shaped around residents’ creativity and energies, providing a dynamic testing ground to collaborate with each other and with other local organizations, shops and businesses.

‘The Warehouse’, a large, well-equipped makerspace and co-working warehouse sits as the centre-piece of the plan for inclusive growth. It houses a range of tools, spaces, machinery and learning opportunities. The Warehouse creates further opportunities to prototype products and test ideas which can potentially become the basis of new collaborative businesses in Barking and Dagenham.

Back here at home, a small group of committed citizens have embarked on a mission to bring the Participatory City model to Nova Scotia.  Building stronger communities, intentional place-making and a focus on citizens, sounds amazing!!

Learn more here.

Up Next…

This overview of makerspaces is just a sampling of the inspiring things that are going on in communities all over Nova Scotia, across Canada, and around the world.

As I was writing the snapshots, people continued to point me to other brilliant groups of people doing remarkable things.  In the next article in this 3-part series, we will look at ways we can Convene, Connect and Catalyze the makerspace movement, to grow resilience in ourselves and our communities.  And, to remind ourselves that innovation resides in all of us. 

We are all makers.

Sandra McKenzie

Co-Founder
sandra@theforgeinstitute.ca