Maker Faire UK – Newcastle

In the early 80’s, my parents owned a gift shop in a shopping mall in The Silicon Valley which sold various electronic toys and souvenirs.  As a young boy growing up, I spent most of my youth dismantling their merchandise in an attempt to figure out how it worked, much to their chagrin.  I was fascinated with how these cheap electronic devices operated. At night while my parents were asleep I would sneak around secretly disassembling anything I could find then put it back together, usually with a few extra parts left over.  My compulsion got so bad that my parents eventually had to hide their shipments from me in the attic.   If you are one of the people who bought a battery operated barking dog from a gift shop in San Jose California in 1984 while on holiday that didn’t work out of the box, I sincerely apologize. My behavior, although destructive at the time, allowed me to get a better understanding of the world around me.  This led to a love of using my hands to build, create and fix things which are just a few of the fundamental themes of the Maker Faire held this past weekend in Newcastle.

The Maker Faire is a yearly event started in the San Francisco Bay Area by the creators of Make Magazine – a magazine that celebrates, art, science, and the do it yourselfer.  The magazine gave rise to the Maker movement which led to Maker Faires popping up around the world where Makers could exhibit their inventions.  I was invited to attend the faire by some friends and really did not know what to expect.  I have heard of Maker Faires and always wanted to go to one, but I never had an opportunity before.  Being from the Bay Area, it was ironic that the first faire that I would ever attend would not be in my hometown but 5000 miles away in the United Kingdom.

The Life Science Centre in Newcastle was buzzing with energy when we arrived.  Even before entering the building there were exhibitions filling the square outside.  One of the larger attractions was a mechanical fire breathing horse terrorizing attendees as they walked by.  There were also musical sculptures which the Makers encouraged people to play.  Everyone was cheerful and excited.  One Maker that I was particularly keen to check out was a ragged old exhibit called the Astronauts Caravan.  Which the Makers described as “an amusing journey through space and time.”  I told myself I would need to come back to that at some point. Upon entering the auditorium, I was greeted with some familiar references to popular culture such as Daleks from “Doctor Who” and people dressed up as Star Wars characters.  Making film props and models is one of the many aspects of the maker movement.

The Life Science Centre was split up into several different areas with over 100 exhibitors.  Most of the robotics and electronic Makers were downstairs while the more traditional Makers such as pottery and embroidery were upstairs.  Everyone was encouraged to explore and ask questions.  All disciplines of science, computing, and art were represented. There was everything from augmented reality to dancing automatons to people hacking the human genome to 3d printers to high school kids exhibiting underwater robots there was so much to see and do, too many things to mention in this short blog.  The weekend was also full of interesting speakers.  My friends and I were unable to attend all of them, of course, but we did manage to catch Mitch Altman, an inventor, in his talk about making a living doing what you love, and Cory Doctorow a science fiction writer and technology activist, who spoke about the disastrous result of trying to police technology and the internet.  Both talks were informative and inspiring.  One of the more engaging aspects of the faire was the hands on approach to all the exhibitions.  You didn’t have to be a geek to get a better understanding of the things these Makers were doing.  Workshops on various subjects were being held throughout the day.  The one we attended was the Shrimp microcontroller workshop where we built a small LED display.

The Maker Faire attracts all manner of people –  nerds and geeks (of which I am the latter) were present alongside hipsters, rockabillies, cosplayers and plain old regular folks with their kids.  It was an eclectic mix.  Every city could benefit from an event like this.  The maker movement is growing every year and based on the excitement I witnessed from the attendees and exhibitors of the Newcastle Maker Faire, it will only get bigger.  The Newcastle Maker Faire is the only one of its type in the UK.  Judging by the amount of people and exhibitors in attendance, I think the UK could benefit from more than one faire.  This leads me to think that a city with a history of ingenuity, culture and Making would be a perfect candidate.  What city could this be?  I don’t have an answer, but whomever organizes it should follow some Leeds and come up with an appropriate venue.  Leeds.

The Maker Movement nurtures the human need to experiment, learn and create.

It juxtaposes the modern age of computing with the traditional skills of craftsmen. Science, technology, art, imagination, and entrepreneurial spirit are all featured ingredients in the melting pot of the Maker Faire. It was refreshing to see so many people excited about Making and willing to share their knowledge and expertise.  As we left the faire there was only one thing I still needed to experience.  The Astronauts Caravan.  As I approached the exhibit, I became a bit worried as I saw the state of the caravan.  The whole thing looked like some sort of decrepit carnival amusement.  It was one pound to ride, which my friend and I reluctantly parted with.  Upon entering the contraption, we weren’t sure what was going to happen.  The door closed behind us as we took a seat on a bench.  The operator or “astronaut” as he called himself communicated with “ground control” outside through what looked to be a garden hose.  And we were off. Suddenly I felt like I was falling and floating at the same time; it was amazing.  We were never in any danger, of course.  The secret to the whole thing was we actually didn’t move at all.  The entire caravan revolved around us.  Its 70’s style interior spun vertically, so what we saw was ceiling, floor, ceiling, floor…  I was totally enveloped by the optical illusion.  It was surreal.  As the Caravan rotated around us, I realized that this exhibit with its absurdity, ingenuity, and creativity, perfectly summed up what the Maker Faire and the whole Maker Movement is about.  It is simply about people doing what they love and sharing it with the world.