Photo: The Making Rooms

What is a makerspace?

That is a hard question to answer. Generally speaking, a makerspace is an open meeting environment where sharing knowledge and skills is central and where there is room for experiment and creation. However for one, hubs can self-identify, so if you think you’re a makerspace - then that’s what you are. 

Here’s some key properties you will often find makerspaces:

Equipment: A makerspace should have some equipment for physical making, this could be a 3D printer or a pair of scissors.

There are no rules as to what equipment makerspace have. Some spaces will have basic arts and crafts equipment while others will be equipped with digital tools, laser cutters, CNC machines or a fully equipped woodworking or textile shop.

It is not about the tools but about what you do with the tools you have.

Skills transferThere should be an air of collaboration and knowledge exchange between users.

Benefits of the group

Connect and network: For advice, inspiration and troubleshooting. One of the benefits of joining our group is to connect and network with other like minded members. It is a great opportunity to share knowledge, best practices, discuss collaboration opportunities or ask for help. All members in this group bring their own experiences and expertise to the table which they are more than happy to share. We organise online meetings frequently and connect physically a couple times a year during the ECHN events. We hope to play a vital role in promoting the importance of makerspaces, stimulate the sharing of resources, knowledge and infrastructure, and put makerspace thematises on the European agenda.

Share: Makerspaces are concentrated centres of knowledge, learning and innovation, bringing together a wide range of talents and disciplines. Ways of effectively sharing this knowledge are constantly being explored ranging from hub collaborations, online meetings, physical teachings, exchanges, e-learning, hybrid learning, distributed learning and more.

CollaborateWe plan to create projects together, perform exchanges between our hubs. We also want to support new makerspaces and intend to create resources on how to start a makerspace, provide case studies, best practice, financial insights and a support group.

Resources

Toolkit: As a product of ECHN 2024 Workshop - Making Spaces in Blackburn, the attending hubs with support from the host hub The Making Rooms, have produced the ECHN Makerspace toolkit. We want this to be a living resource, so if you have any suggestions or wish to contribute, please email tom@makingrooms.org

Discussion and networking group: We have a networking and discussion group where you can participate and share your thoughts and Ideas. There you will find all past, current and future information about what is going on in our community. You can join us at: https://makerspace.zone/groups/maker-spaces-cluster-at-echn/ 

Shared drive: We have created a shared drive for contributing hubs to freely share their resources. If you have resources that you would like to share, please contact Lizzy (Bulb) & Tom (The Making Rooms).

These resources are all shared under Creative Commons.