TechShop has recently announced two advancements in their growth as a global maker space. They’re opening their doors 24-hours a day, 7-days a week as well as going international with a flagship shop in France!
TechShop started in 2006 as a place for makers, tinkerers, artists and beyond to have a creative space to work on projects. They offer over 1 million dollars-worth of machinery and tools for people to access. TechShop is a membership based shop, much like a gym; Members pay to have access to the tools and machines, as well as taking classes in any area of interest (Machining, woodshop, laser cutting etc.) We featured TechShop and many other maker spaces in Make: Volume 40 and have seen nothing but growth since then.
The change in operation hours will be happening on March 20th in every store. Moving their hours to 24-hours a day opens up further making opportunities all the time. This is often imperative for many folks working on deadlines or start up business ventures. This change will also increase hosting opportunities for overnight hackathons and other long running maker events.
Going global creates the opportunity to travel internationally with your projects and have a place to work on them. Once you’re a member at one shop, you’re a member at any of the TechShops and now that includes shops abroad. There are Techshops in 3 Bay area locations, as well as Detroit, Austin, Pittsburg, Arlington, and Chandler. The classes they offer train and enable you to use the tools in the shop, and these certifications are respected at every location with the same rules applied.
TechShop has produced some of the best Makers in our community. It’s great to see these developments unfolding and it’ll be even more interesting to see what the future holds.
Happy Making!
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