“DIY is an Instigator of Community”: Dale Dougherty Chats with Etsy

“DIY is an Instigator of Community”: Dale Dougherty Chats with Etsy

dale-dougherty

In this great little Etsy Q&A, MAKE Founder and Publisher Dale Dougherty chats about the evolution of MAKE, resourcefulness, and how making is a sign of caring for others:

That’s really the heart of what led me to focus on “amateurs” at Maker Faire and with the magazine. The root of the word amateur is “to love.” I wanted to focus on people who really love what they are doing and making. I wanted to find that place and stick with it.

Fun fact: Etsy and MAKE were both founded the same year — 2005.

Etsy interviewer Karen Brown asked the MAKE crew for their favorite Etsy objects: MAKE Contributing Editor John Edgar Park chose this vintage industrial frame dining table.
Etsy interviewer Karen Brown asked the MAKE crew for their favorite Etsy objects: MAKE Contributing Editor John Edgar Park chose this vintage industrial frame dining table.

One reason I love working at MAKE is hearing Dale talk about the maker movement. His passion is evidenced to me by the fact that I never hear him use canned taglines or tired marketing speak. Interacting with and connecting the amazing makers in this world fuels him, and his enthusiasm is contagious.

A couple of my favorite quotes from this interview:

• “If there is something I could wish for America, it’s that we would restore resourcefulness as a middle class virtue. In the old sense of DIY, there was the understanding that if we worked on our home or made our own clothes, we had a better life as a result. We had something that money couldn’t buy —the rewards of our efforts, satisfaction, and engagement with others. Those things are at the heart of how and why we live.”

• “I think the future for education is that kids will have more control over it, and that there will be more choices beyond what the education system provides. I think kids can come to learning from a sense of play. Then, they might want to take what they are learning seriously at some point as a job.”

Read the interview in its entirety here.

While we’re on the subject of Maker Faire… There are seven days left to buy tickets to Maker Faire Bay Area at Early Bird discount prices. Be smart: pick yours up today! Ticket prices go up on March 15.

6 thoughts on ““DIY is an Instigator of Community”: Dale Dougherty Chats with Etsy

  1. C Clark says:

    Look at your space and then look at what’s “trending” – see anything strange? Electronics, electronics, electronics. Pffft! I’m tired of having to dig through ten piles of electronics to find a little making. Subscription was a waste of money, I’m done. You should call your place elecMake or just “Electronics, Electronics, Electronics”

    1. Sean Michael Ragan says:

      Thanks for this comment! As a member of the MAKE staff whose main interests also lie outside the area of electronics, I’d love to hear about the kinds of making you’d rather see us focus on.

  2. Greg says:

    Thank you so much for picking our table on Etsy!

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"To oppose something is to maintain it." –Ursula Le Guin

Currently: NEO.LIFE Alum: Instructables and MAKE

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