Fab Academy 2018
by JEAN-BAPTISTE NATALI
jbnatali@gmail.com
Now finished with and graduated from the Fab Academy in Barcelona, I document my experiences, currently wandering around Europe.
This documentation is as much a report of what I do as a reflection on why I do so, and will hopefully guide me back to Oceania to make good use of the knowledge gathered along the path.
--- Fab exchange / Residency ---
--- AT ERFINDERGARDEN FABLAB, MUNICH ---
Arriving at the end of my time at Erfindergarden, I wish to write a small report of what I have experienced and learned here. This article will be hopefully concise and cover all specificities about the location, space and infrastructure, users and type of activities, and some personal notes about my learning. Finally I will describe what I did while was there. And add a few bonus pictures about Munich. Happy reading.
what I made :
Below is a classy wooden toy, variation of a local design : the "Cacta-Pult".
download :
THE LOCATION
Erfindergarden is a small workshop in the city centre of Munich. The neighborhood is high/middle class, and the workshop is located in a small street next to a much larger, lively street with restaurants, cafes and shops.
This location is both a blessing and a curse. All passersby can appreciate what is happening inside the space, peering through the windows and staring at the projects displayed. A video game was set up outside and is very successful. Many people walked in out of sheer curiosity. Although that seems good at first, being constantly interrupted can be counter-productive. I believe that most workshop technicians owning their own business deal with the same issue.
Once the heatwave went away, I ended up keeping the front door shut so as to refrain the less motivated ones to come in. Only genuinely interested people would push the door and walk in. In a perfect world where I had free time and resources, I would also set up an extra exhibition / shop space in the entrance so as to keep passerbys busy, communicate the concept in more depth, provide information about opportunity to interact with the space and ethos in the future , increase the marketing and provide them a way to interact with the space immediately though purchase of products.
THE SPACE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Erfindergarden is well equipped. The space is being divided in four intertwined areas : entrance/welcoming space, assembly and tools space, sitting/co-working space and cutting space. There is also an extra room for basic cooking/storage and bathroom.
At my arrival, since Summer is a quiet time for Erfindergarden, the space was chaotic and messy; the owner was slowly going through a change in the setup of the space. He left before being able to finish it; therefore, I took over and cleaned / tidied up the very basic, liberating some of the assembly and tool space.
After a big clean-up of the space, putting things away and creating an extra storage space at the back, I can now describe each area :
1/entrance/welcoming space : currently available : a couch, a fridge, a vending-machine with drinks and some magazines. I would add : a pocket-shop, water fountain, flyers with calendar and description of the activities, a table with a computer with the website on - so people can sign up immediately for workshop - , and a table to discuss with potential customers.
2/assembly and tool space : currently available : empty space (important), 3 3D printers, soldering space, L-shaped table with printers, vacuum-forming machine, small mill, precision milling machine, T Shirt press, a lot of storage for electronics and tools, and a computer to control them all. I would add : nothing, just plugging all the machines in and setting up a roster for machine maintenance.
3/sitting/co-working space : currently available : tables and chairs, nice sunlight during the day and lighting at night, extra computers. I would add : a storage space for each member or recurrent user.
4/cutting space : currently available : laser cutter, maslow CNC machine. I would add : more storage for materials, fixing the CNC, and probably some soundproofing. Now to be fair, Erfindergarden is expanding to a new container located not too far where all this dirty business will be done and these requirements met.
5/Extra comment about other spaces :
- the use of shop window : Very few labs have shop windows. Currently at sight : 3D printed characters and laser cut portraits. I would add : same, but with a description of the design, the fabrication process and the person/team behind it.
USERS AND TYPE OF ACTIVITIES
Summer time is a quiet period, so I won't meet all regulars. However I hear that there are roughly 12 members, and will see a few male teenagers working on their own projects and a couple of male adults acting as mentors, helpers and overall stewards of the space. The atmosphere is good and chatty.
Usually Teenagers come on Wednesdays and Fridays from 5 to 8pm. An open day is organised on Saturdays from 2pm to 8pm roughly.
I also met many people coming in for various reasons. Two curious and keen adults with no background in crafting or making; two or three male professionals (carpenters, programmers, illustrators) interested in using the space irregularly for their own interest and often very keen to help teenagers with their projects; A young graphic designer looking for a co-working space; A couple of the same type of professionals listed above, just happy to provide their expertise to whoever was aroun; and a couple of other people interested in fixing/repairing their own things, for educational reasons both for themselves or their families.
This demonstrates and opportunity to grow the membership base, organise more open-workshops for the youth and set up regular repair cafes and reason to hang out with other creatives.
PERSONAL NOTES
1/It takes a village to raise a child, and a community to run a makerspace. Each user brings in a large amount of knowledge. In another hackerspace, people teach each other once every two weeks, and the knowledge grows rapidly.
2/Communication is key. People from the outside needs to know how they can interact with the space. Flyers, posters, updated website, clear pricing, calendars, schedules, all in one place, is important. And it saves a lot of time of explaining.
3/Mess is good for projects, and mess is bad for tools.
- About project : when I say mess is good for projects, I mean cross-pollination is good for projects. Putting several people working on different projects in the same room can be beneficial. But about storing finished projects : All I can think of is to display finished projects in a shop window or equivalent before they end up stored in a messy place. Here at Erfindergarden, I have set up a Google doc that can be quickly filled and printed, then displayed next to the object, giving away the backstory. It is also a time for people to reflect on their creation - what, why and how - and decide of the copyright and potential way to share their creation with others.
- About tools : Use it, Put it back, Clean behind you, List what is needed or what the lab is getting low on, Report. Nothing life-changing.
WHAT I DID THERE
0/ Reading (to make mum proud again) : Fab City (co-author Tomas Diez), Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari), The maker’s guide to the zombie apocalypse (Simon Monk).
1/ Clean it up, clean it up, clean it up. Considered all business opportunities of the space. Welcomed and helped out newcomers, exchanged emails, taught 2d and 3d design, laser cutting and 3d printing and maintained the tools. I learned a lot myself. Then...
2/ Writing funding application for Fab City Aotearoa Charitable Trust. August and September are busy months, all deadlines happen right then. So I wrote an application for the space, helped design a MoU, Site User Policy and other paperwork for the place where the Fab Lab will eventually take place, designed a website for the Fab Lab (now 90%finished), and by the end of this week, I will have written between 3 and 6 funding applications for workshops, equipment, collaboration, scholarship, allocation and so on.
3/ Design of a toy from the brief to a packaged product. Before leaving to Mexico the owner wanted a present to offer to the fab labs he was going to visit. So inspired from the design of another maker and the Mexican flag, I made a version of a catapult - a small wooden toy laser cut out of 4mm plywood. I went through the whole process of documenting the fabrication for easy replication, putting them online with an open-source copyright, designed a packaging made out of recycled material, then shared the product both in the shop window and online. The product can now be made either from raw material (full production using digital fabrication tool) or a set of prefabricated pieces (ready For Assembly kit that can be put together anywhere). Find it here.
Overall, this process took 4 days : 1,5 day for design and final product, 1,5 day for documentation, 1 day for packaging, production of a small batch, and basic communication around the product.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to thank Andreas Kopp for welcoming me in his lab, his kindness, trust and generosity. I also wish to thank Mini, Thomas, Tobias and other members of Erfindergarden for making my stay even more enjoyable in Munich. FInally I would like to thank all people and organisation who made this possible, most of them might find themselves represented as : the Fab Lab Network. Thanks to all of you. And Thank you, reader.
MORE : ANOTHER DESIGN MADE THERE
MORE : RANDOM DESIGN WORK
MORE : TRIP TO THE PINAKOThEK DER MODERNE
MORE : TRIP TO THE DEUTSCHES MUSEUM
MORE : TRIP THROUGH MUNICH IN SUMMER!
MORE : WHAT DO I BRING BACK FROM MUNICH ?
