Maker Faire Paris is setting up for its 5th year at Europe’s largest science museum, the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie (Museum of Science and Industry), whose fantastical facade is pictured below. For three days, November 23, 24 & 25, this future focused space highlights the importance of the maker movement in reinventing and experimenting with new approaches to de- and re-industrialization in ways that are more responsible, sustainable, and focused on the personal development of individuals.
With Maker Faire Paris as its showcase event, France’s growing maker movement – and its growing number of makerspaces, fablabs, and workshops – is more connected than ever. As production team member Bertrand Baudry notes,
Maker Faire Paris is France’s gathering of Makers, people who experiment, invent, hack and repair in their everyday life, be it in FabLabs, makerspaces, hackerspaces, recycling centers, at school or from their garage… While not all of them claim to change the world, they remind us that we can be proud of what we do with our own hands while contributing to the well-being of everyone. If you want to change the world all you need to do is to “re-Make” it, and anyone – even without technical knowledge – can come up with innovate ideas and draw on the skills of the Makers’ community to realize them. The “open source” values – free access to information for all – on which this approach relies extend to the real world through peer learning and know-how sharing.
The nearly 250 Maker exhibits, a 1000 square meter boite noire (dark room), 20 presentations, and 75 workshops are spread across some 8,000 meters of exhibition space and will be organized into five zones that are as much conceptual as practical: Sound Makers / Drones; 3D printing / Electronics / Robotics); Repair School / Kids / Food / Green; Upcycling / Circular Economy / Arts; Gaming / Cosplay / (more) Arts / Design / Fashion. Like many Maker Faires around the world, the the event’s producers and its title sponsor, Leroy Merlin, put a strong focus on education by organizing a Friday program geared to the 7,000 students scheduled to attend and offers 100+ hands-on workshops throughout the weekend. Make:’s own Caleb Kraft will be on-site during the Faire live-blogging to share the sights and sounds with you throughout the weekend.
World traveler and übermaker Eunny toured last year’s show, giving an idea of what to expect (inside):
Here’s a quick peek at some of the fantastic Makers + Workshops that will be showing & telling their projects this weekend.
Ateliers Jonck
From childhood, Fabien Jonckheere has been a tinkerer, fixer of toys, and maker of things from cardboard pizza boxes. Now, he turns this energy into designing and animating activities that scale from the youngest to oldest participants and mix upcycled materials with FabLab collaborative problem solving. Here’s a peek at his exhibition at Maker Faire Lille 2018.
Federation Open Space Makers
The Federation aims to open the world of space infrastructure to as many people as possible. Initiated and supported by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) space agency, it sets a framework and provides support to makers who want to design and manufacture open source space hardware.
Water.
Water., by brothers Sébastien and Tom Guillen, is an interactive installation: A musical fountain or a hydraulic harp that offers everyone the opportunity to experiment with water as a medium of musical experience.
https://vimeo.com/242967750
Craft ‘n Sound
Fight against planned obsolescence: this Hi-Fi DIY extravaganza by Craft ‘n Sound is sure to delight fans of both music and design. Check out their lookbook on Instagram.
Laminiak: Fablab Patisserie
Laminiak brings rapid prototyping and digital manufacturing tools to the food industry and makes them accessible to the general public with its pastry fablab. A unique space to develop innovative projects for pastry, chocolate, ice cream and caterers, they will be offering the opportunity to workshop ideas at Maker Faire Paris.
Le Pavé
Le Pavé by Marius Hamelot is the first flooring composed of plastic waste collected in nature and oceans. Made to measure, it is much more than a beautiful and quality flooring option: Patented & produced in France, it is 100% recycled & recyclable.
Big Face Boxes
Illustrating humans enduring love of their own image, Big Face Boxes (most recently on display at Maker Faire Rochester last weekend) comes to Paris.
Toysfab / La Machine à Rendre Les Gens Joyeux
François-Xavier Faucher is left-handed, Breton, bearded, a dad to two kids and passionate about creating opportunities for (big) kids.
I always needed to do things with my hands to make up for all that time spent working on a computer or meeting on abstract or virtual concepts … and when I had children it was the perfect excuse to create games and toys for them, then gradually with them … Buddies, dads regularly asked me how I made this or that, so after a few emails explanations, I ended up putting everything on a blog. I’m trying to propose on Toysfab.com DIY guides of toys and experiences of all types, from DIY “2 seconds” with everyday objects (bales of flour, submarine in plastic bottles …) to more complex devices like rockets water, giant dragons, aerodynamic wind tunnels … What motivates me is to be able to share my vision of education through experimentation, practice, play, and then I hope to disinhibit parents, because we are ALL of Makers!
Un atelier pour s’amuser à fabriquer des vidéos
In an event filled with engaging workshops, Frédéric Giraud offers something uniquely interesting in our digital age. His mission: to help you express an idea in a fun and inspiring video format, using your smartphone and animation techniques.
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You can even make your own avatar!
The secret is out: Maker Faire Paris 2018 has something for everyone. Find out all you need to get there and get making on the website , Twitter, and Facebook.
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