Feature Imageย by Jun Shรฉnaย
One of my favorite parts of Maker Faireย every year is the speech given on Sunday by Adam Savage. Even if you donโt already identify yourself as a maker, his Maker Faire talk (or โSunday Sermonโ as itโs been jokingly called) isย so fieryย and inspiring that theyโve fueled my own drive to create things for many years.
Parts of his 2014 speech โThe Ten Commandments of Makingโ have not only become an integral part of videos Iโve used to help define the brands of both Maker Faire and Make: magazine, but also influenced how I choose to identify as a maker of things andย film othersย making.
A Changing World
But like any good sermon, the message changes with the times. This year’s speechย addressed the state that the world finds itself in at this point in time. Savage praised our society’s abilityย to produce food and medicine for the world, to use theย Internet toย connect communities all over the world, and to innovateย amazing tools. At the same time, he mentioned the unfortunate levels of crippling income disparity and institutional racism our country is experiencing.
The Good
Savageย posits that makers not only derive energy from our tools and communities, but through the blank canvas of our work and the control that we wield over them. From that energy, we can inspire others to make, and to build the world that we want to live in.
The Bad
Of course, it wouldnโt be one of Adam Savage’sย talks if he didnโt spend some time ruminating on the notion of failure – condemning the people who never admit to failure and resist confronting their own shortcomings are, to him, the onesย who inhibit progress. Iterative failure is as much a part of the process as iterative success – nothing ever goes according to plan; thatโs the plan.
Q&A Session
Adam Savage followed his speech with a 48-minute long Q&A session.
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