Welcome to the Maker Faire Lille live blog! We will be taking pictures of cool things all weekend during this event, and uploading pictures and videos here on this blog post. Refresh this page frequently and we will put new stuff at the top! I you haven’t be following along, you’ll want to scroll down to the bottom to read from the beginning.
When we met the the “Queen of Masks” yesterday, she told us she was having a fashion show on Sunday – so we made a point of heading over to the impromptu runway a little early this afternoon to make sure we could get a good spot to take pics. The show, which featured her stunning reclaimed-masks-as-fast-fashion line, was a major highlight of closing day – hope this isn’t toooo many pictures, but it was just too much fun!!! – David
Some RoboCup projects were present, though I didn’t see anyone kicking a ball around. – caleb
EirLab of Bordeaux Fablab brought a bunch of cool projects, including a recreation of James Bruton’s robot dog. They say they’re making some improvements to a few structural elements. – caleb
this cool constellation project is an aide to help educate children. Designed by Justin Van Kesbelck, it’s just one of the many cool projects he brought, including some fun LED displays. – caleb
Love this wireframe Makey by @brodeurdevoliere! – David
Believe it or not, this concrete depositing 3D printer is their small version! Constructions3D designs and builds concrete 3D printers for manufacturing. You can see some pretty cool examples of chairs and tables here, but their big machine can do houses as well! – caleb
This artist brought the supplies to let people make Linocut prints! It’s always so fun seeing people experience making a print for their first time. – caleb
FabricAr3v are making a multi-head 3d printer that has pellet extruders for multi material printing. In this case they were showing off a metal material that they can print, then sinter in a kiln to produce fully metal parts that can be used in actual applications!
These university students were showing off a plethora of robotic projects. Of particular interest was this massive quadruped bot with a chair plopped on top. They said it is built and moving but now they have to work on the walking gait to make it actually rideable! – caleb
I always love seeing local maker groups bring hands-on activities. Makers Lille brought so many fun games and things. I particularly liked the laser trip wire project and the super low tech vortex cannon! – caleb
This contraption is a washing machine that was ripped apart, and the mechanical structures were replaced by pedal power. Thoroughly entertaining at the least. – caleb
It’s been wonderful seeing new ways in which materials can we reused at the Faire; this novel use of newspaper by MÜ allows it to be woven similar to wicker baskets! – David
Obligatory mural progress pics…! – David
What was really in the suitcase? Maybe it was a Kubernetes cluster? These Raspberry Pis work together to demonstrate CI/CD and gather metrics for applications such as climate control. And these custom ESP32 boards can act as additional IoT nodes to send data over MQTT. – David
These origami style lights are so beautiful. The paper creates a wonderful soft glow and ships totally flat. – caleb
This is Amaury, a famous youtuber here in France. He’s got quite a collection of cool projects to show off. – caleb
MyATC TV set up an entire wood shop! people were sawing, sanding, and nailing things together to fill this tree with bird houses. What a fantastic hands-on experience. – caleb
^^^Day 3 of Maker Faire Lille above ^^^
Where do all of the masks that we all use every day end up? Some of them may find a second life on Paris fashion show runways as it turns out, thanks to the “Queen of Masks”! (video interview coming soon!) – David
We were delighted to find these gorgeous paper flowers, created by sculptor and designer Junior Fritz Jacquet, in a dark, somewhat hidden room – honestly the pictures do not even do them justice! (Caleb for scale in that last pic!) – David
Home decor made from industrial left overs always feels so good. There’s so much texture in this wood and steel. The addition of the edison bulbs really puts it over the top!
Cosmyx seems to be a manufacturer of 3d printers here in France. You can find their website for further information but the prints we’ve seen here look great. – caleb
Building adorable robots with scrap and trash is a time honored tradition that must appear at Maker Faire. These little bots really are adorable and I can’t help but think maybe I need a few to liven up my own home! They are the work of Gille Monte Ruici. – caleb
The overarching theme of Maker Faire Lille is sustainability and the circular economy. We’ve seen numerous examples of plastics and other materials being reclaimed and reused, such as these chess pieces and chairs! – David
Soldering workshops are a staple of Maker Faires – but we never get tired of seeing them – and seeing smiling faces and blinking badges always warms our hearts! – David
PonyTrap has come here all the way from the Netherlands with their robotic drumming machines. There’s consistently a crowd around them when the robot starts banging on things! – caleb
The chillbus is something that I have to contain my excitement about a little bit. Being obsessed with converted busses for camping and living, a double decker bus is almost too much to handle! They schedule tours and take up to 8 people on multi-day road trips, much like a bed and breakfast on wheels. – caleb
This gorgeous material is made from shells and reclaimed materials, and can be used as a substitute for marble or granite to create home furnishings, votive holders, statues, or whatever else you can imagine! – David
As if Makey weren’t adorable enough already, these makers are using tufting guns to create fluffy Makey rugs! – David
It’s been wonderful to watch this mural evolve since we got here – it’s really starting to come together! – David
^^^ Maker Faire Lille Day 2 Above ^^^
Surface[X) by Coudamy is created by a KUKA robot arm that gently nudges CNC’d metal into elaborate geometric shapes… – David
The TinyVroum micro-caravan – it’s bigger on the inside! – David
Tiny homes are very big at this Maker Faire! – David
Found a 100% organic Makey in the wild! – David
We’ve been playing Maker Faire Bingo here in Lille and I just got the droids I needed to beat Caleb! – David
With 3d printers and CNC machines becoming fairly ubiquitous, the ability to realize one’s ideas physically is almost trivial these days. But wall murals are still mostly hand-painted by artists – or at least they were, until SIID debuted their eco-friendly wallPen mural-painting machine! – David
I love these hands-on cardboard things. People were cutting out shapes and using these really neat little clips to hold multiple sheets together. By connecting them in certain ways, they created big 3d structures as tall as me! – caleb
Masking tape is usually thought of a disposable – a temporary assistant whose presence is no longer required once the paint dries; but Tapigami transforms this ephemeral adhesive into lasting collaborative art experiences! – David
Caffeine and code are the essential ingredients for most of my making, so it was really exciting to learn about POP Cafe – where you can grab an espresso to catch a buzz and a micro:bit to scratch your coding itch! – David
Had a chance to get to get to nose Benjamin Cabe in person and see how his IoT nodes/noses can be used with Azure Digital Twins to gather sensor data (aka smells) over a wide area! – David
There’s an artist here doing a full mural! I’m curious to see how it will turn out. As David pointed out, Makey, the Maker Faire Robot is a bit slimmer here in France than they are in the states! – Caleb
This little device, called Koriko, is a sleep alarm! it uses red/blue light to help you settle into sleep and come back out and it has a gentle little vibration as well.
Folks have to keep cycling to play this anime on the screen!
We have arrived at the first day of Maker Faire Lille! The crowds are just starting to flow through the gates and the energy is palpable. As usual the art and flavor of this faire is stunning. So much variety and interesting things we will be showing you this weekend!
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