using these spaces. There are woodworkers, machinists, chemists, weavers, artists, and many more. Interspersed among their individual workspaces are lounge areas where people can talk, sit down, and relax. There’s also a library filled with technical manuals, as well as eating and meeting areas. People are eager to help one another, and eager to share. Local businesses are also taking advantage of these spaces. Dozens of the personal workspaces in MakerLabs are rented to them, with people running their own companies in the workshop. Demand is compounded by the rise of companies like Etsy and Kickstarter, which have become popular by supporting small, local makers, giving rise to many new small businesses. This isn’t something just for professionals though, far from it. As it turns out, MakerLabs has a rule: if you want to use any of the machines in the shop, you have to take one of their relevant courses. It doesn’t matter if you’re an expert who’s been using CNC machines for decades, or a complete newbie who doesn’t know what CNC means (it stands for computer numerical control); everyone is treated the same. Not only does this mean that there’s little chance of feeling out of place, but if you have any questions there’s bound to be
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an expert nearby. MakerLabs now has around 200 members, and they want to make the place feel open to everyone. This applies to Tools for Women (TFW), a program to remove barriers for women in the shop. Derek Gaw and other users realized that more often than not, when women would come in to check out the shop there would be exclusively men working at any given time. If you’re a woman and you don’t see women in a workspace, you don’t see yourself there either. TFW takes in four women per month as a group, allowing them to take classes together, and to act as mentors for the next groups. The concept of sharing tools and resources among a group of people is hardly new. Schools have had similar set-ups for generations, and you can even find examples in some apartment complexes and in co-op housing projects. However, makerspaces like MakerLabs are not limited to schools or restricted to on-site residents; they are community spaces where anyone can join, and where joining is actively encouraged. Nowadays there are many makerspaces here in B.C., like the Vancouver Hack Space or the Vancouver Community Laboratory, but they remain a relatively recent phenomenon. Makerspaces are growing in popularity, not just here in Vancouver, but
around the world. As of 2016, there were 483 such spaces in North America, a 14-fold increase since 2006. In 2014 the White House held its first-ever Maker Faire, and celebrities like Adam Savage from Mythbusters are encouraging people to become involved. Calgary’s Mini Maker Faire had 700 attendees in 2012; by 2015, that number had risen to 4,300. Living around Vancouver is expensive, and that’s forcing people to adjust. Over the past decade, this has taken on many forms, from community living areas, community gardens, and now community makerspaces. These low-cost environments give hundreds of Vancouverites access to tools they need, to a community of supportive, like-minded people to help them with their work. It could be one individual wanting to do a small woodworking project; it could be a professional business that wants an open work environment. Makerspaces are new, innovative ways to fill these niches, to help bring communities together. What’s more, they just make economic sense. If you have 20 people who need to use a tablesaw a few times a month, why should they each buy their own? The future depends on people becoming more comfortable with sharing, with collaborating, and with getting out and making things together. ■
