When creativity combines with real-world technology and a dash of ingenuity, ‘makers’ are made.
Ottawa’s third annual Maker Faire, held at the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology Aug. 31, sought to inspire some of the more than 2,000 people who attended to take up the hammer, wrench, and computer to create some of their own technological pieces of art and engineering.
“Maker Faire features tinkerers, hackers, inventors—people making things in their basements, their garages, their living rooms after work—and we’re providing a platform to showcase all those projects to a larger audience,” said Remco Volmer, the program manager of Art Engine, the group responsible for putting together the fair.
With over 50 exhibitors at this year’s fair, Volmer said the organization process was a bit of a headache considering for the past fairs, the venues only held about 20 exhibitors.
“Last year, the fair relied heavily on whatever we could beg, borrow, and steal,” he said. “Obviously, we need a lot more infrastructure now.”
After the decision came to include more exhibitors this year, Art Engine contacted the museum and various sponsors to help finance the fair and provide space.
Kevin Bailey, the president of Design 1st, one of the three presenting sponsors of the event, said he has supported the maker community from its early days in Ottawa.
“I’ve always been an enthusiast with tinkering. I’ve been curious about being able to build this, build that,” he said.
With the introduction of Maker Magazine in 2005 which spawned the tech-driven do-it-yourself phenomenon, cities on the west coast of the U.S. started hosting Maker Faires. While Ottawa’s fair has only been around since 2010, Bailey said with the talent stemming from the two universities and local businesses, Ottawa is quickly becoming the maker hub of Canada.
Father-son duo Stephen and Joe Burke were at the fair showcasing models they had made with a 3D printer.
Three-dimensional printing, while it has been around for some 30 years, is only just starting to take off as a viable manufacturing solution. For right now though, materials the printer can handle are limited to wax and plastic.
“The only thing holding things back are the materials used,” explained Stephen Burke, an account executive at Envirolaser, the only Ottawa-based company that offers commercial 3D printing.
“Try putting titanium through a print head. It’s simply not going to happen.”
After venturing out of the 3D-printing hub, a red and white pavilion hosted other exhibitors showcasing everything from larger-than-life LEGO creations, to industrial designed jewellery.
While the fair may resemble a real-life Etsy shop, Volmer said Maker Faire’s exhibitors don’t make something with the intention to sell it but rather, they come hoping to share their projects.
“A lot of the exhibitors show the prototypes of the projects they have,” he said. “They want to show how they arrived at the project and they want other people to understand how it was made and tell them, ‘you can do it too.’”
