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<\/a>According to its purveyors, the maker movement has come just in time, as they say society is beginning to forget its humble origins. It\u2019s important that we realize that not everything should be made in China for 22 cents and that a lot of satisfaction can be gained from using something that we built with our own two hands.<\/p>\n
For many people, the idea of \u201cdo it yourself\u201d is an unexplored frontier. There simply hasn\u2019t been much of an opportunity in recent years to work with one\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a tendency over the last couple decades for consumer culture to focus on things that are made elsewhere,\u201d explains Victoria Maker Space board member Derek Jacoby. \u201cThis is totally antithetical to the way things were just a generation ago, where if you wanted it fixed, you fixed it yourself. The maker movement is a rediscovery of the benefits, both economic and satisfaction-wise, of making things yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some trades do provide opportunities, but these are limited and available only to those who would choose them as a career. On top of this, our society no longer values the ability of people to make things themselves like it used to; not surprising, when we look at the convenience of consumerism. So where does this leave us? In reality, most people have the capacity to make things; they simply lack inspiration and a space to do so.<\/p>\n
A simpler time<\/strong><\/p>\n Jentery Sayers is an assistant professor of English at UVic and director of the maker lab there. He explains that one of the first things that inspired him to become a maker was his grandparents, who were trying their best to be self-sufficient.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was a kid my grandparents lived off the land,\u201d says Sayers. \u201cSo occasionally my parents would drop me off there for the summer and I would basically spend time with my grandparents learning how to grow vegetables, or can and preserve goods, or raise livestock. They lived basically off of everything in or around their home, and they would trade things with people nearby. It was really intriguing to me how intimately they knew what they consumed.\u201d<\/p>\n Luckily, for those of us who like to play the inventor, as long as there has been a consumerism movement, there has been an opposing movement. Sayers explains that one of the earlier influences of the maker movement was the Luddite movement (textile artisans in the 19th century who protested the newly implemented \u201cpower looms,\u201d which replaced human labour). Sayers explains that there are many other points of inspiration or reference that his UVic group uses in the maker lab.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are also a lot of people doing inspiring contemporary work,\u201d explains Sayers. \u201cWe also look quite a bit at the punk and feminist scenes from the \u201970s and \u201980s. The kind of aesthetic of zines, the whole culture around making your own publication process and circulating your own views and perspectives, and also getting to know how printing worked is really inspiring to us,\u201d explains Sayers. \u201cAlthough, I think if you were to ask, \u2018What\u2019s the maker movement?\u2019 most people go to Make<\/i> magazine and MakerBots. Historically, the maker movement\u2019s been around for centuries, and it\u2019s just recently that industry and private sectors have found a way to brand it that really brings people\u2019s attention to it.\u201d<\/p>\n At times, the private sector\u2019s involvement in movements is unwelcome, but a case could be made that here it was necessary to drum up the interest of those who would otherwise remain unaware. In recent years, maker labs and maker spaces have become available to almost anyone who wishes to try them out. Victoria sports at least two such labs, each with a large group of dedicated members.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the appeals that maker spaces are continually having on academic campuses is that they are kind of spaces for interdisciplinary or cross-disciplinary work,\u201d says Sayers. \u201cSomeone might have a problem or idea that people come together to work on, and historically that\u2019s kind of difficult to do on a lot of university campuses, because even regardless of the size of your campus, you tend to be split up by discipline. So that\u2019s really unique to have that cross-disciplinary perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n The maker lab at UVic runs on a strong teamwork initiative. Because the maker movement itself doesn\u2019t belong to one specific type of craftsperson, it allows for a multivalent community of makers. In fact, it could be said that the very essence of the maker movement is this unification.<\/p>\n A brief history of maker space and time<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMy day job is a tower rigger,\u201d explains Vince Geisler, one of Maker Space Victoria\u2019s most active members. \u201cI work on towers hoisting up radios and that sort of thing. My not day job is a molecular biologist in training. I knew nothing about chemistry or biology a year ago. It\u2019s the way I learn: I\u2019ve got to have a problem to slam my head against repeatedly and something that will crumble slowly, rather than giving easily, and that forces me to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides a self-sustained biology lab, Maker Space Victoria, situated in the tech park behind Camosun\u2019s Interurban campus, features a laser wood cutter, a 3D printer, a woodshop, a metal shop, and more.<\/p>\n