Knowable, an ambitious German startup that aimed to connect Makers, inventors, and hardware professionals and help them collaborate and share resources, announced this week that it was shutting down after three years.
“Unfortunately neither [social network component] Polymer nor Knowable saw the traction that was necessary to support a venture funded business model,” wrote creators Simon Höher and Emanuel Schwarz in a farewell note posted on the site. “And that means we’re closing both platforms in a few weeks. It’s a decision that we didn’t take lightly – and we’re still working to figure out a future for the technology and expertise that we’ve built over the last couple of years.”
In its heyday, Knowable attracted attention for its vision of a less linear, more collaborative design process than Thingiverse or Instructables.
Signups on the site are no longer available, and the service will be shut down for good on April 15. Höher and Schwarz encourage former users to reach out with ideas for how the spirit of the project might carry on in the future.
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