The Elephant & Castle Mini Maker Faire, now in its second year at London College of Communication, is a celebration of the ever-expanding and contemporary maker culture.
Held on Saturday 15 November, the Maker Faire represents makers (and even bakers) working with a variety of technologies and designs including a 3D printed cookie cutter (Einstein cookies, anyone?), a paper speaker that plays sweet music and a crowd-sourced, environmental monitoring system called Smart Citizen, which publishes open data.
The maker movement continues to build momentum as a community, with more people turning their backs on traditional models of thought and design in favour of hacktivation.
“EdTech and the maker movement go hand in hand. The best thing we can do to help children master technology, rather than being mastered by it, is to help bring the maker movement into more schools,” explains Ben Pirt, creator of a DIY robot for kids.
‘Paper Playscapes’ in progress. © V&A
The Faire will also include an interactive artwork specially commissioned by the Victoria & Albert Museum for the event. Paper Playscapes is an open-ended installation – interacted with and made by designers and visitors – representing a landscape in movement.
Over 100 exhibitors are involved and over 2,000 attendees are expected at the Faire this year. LCC’s in-house makers are seeing a marked connection between their courses, the culture at the College and the maker movement.
“An era of user-generated content in the digital domain has fostered a desire for the co-creation of products and services and a desire to reshape our physical products to suit new and personal uses,” says Ben Stopher, Programme Director Interactive & Visual Communication.
“In this context, the Elephant and Castle Mini Maker Faire brings together interaction and communication design students with hackers, crafters, tinkerers, biohackers and technology advocates for a day of hands-on fun for all ages.”