Maker Faire Austin- so cool!

by Sarah in Around Austin / 10.21.08

I spent this Sunday with the MindBites crew at Maker Faire, possibly the best annual event in Austin. Maybe not THE BEST, but it’s right up there with SXSW. It’s that cool. Who wouldn’t love spending the day around fire blowing robots, life size mouse traps, and innovative sustainable design of the future?

Maker Faire is an event created by Make Magazine to “celebrate arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset.” The first event was held in 2006 in San Francisco. So far, Austin and San Francisco are the only cities in the world to host these events.

At first, I didn’t know what to expect and, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t too pumped to go because I was forced get up early on Sunday and drive to the boondocks. I am so glad I went, though, and I would recommend it to everyone! Kids and Adults, everyone will have fun there.

First we hit up the food tent (of course) and got lots of samples of organic sweets, teas, and coffee. There were also lots of demonstrations about simple organic gardening techniques in your home that were very interesting.

Then we saw the most awesome robot battle involving two robots crashing into each other while fire and sparks exploded everywhere. Awesome.

Afterwards I saw an amazing talk about housing for people in New Orleans with the Instant House, a new architectural project that allows people to put together very affordable housing, very fast.

Finally, I spent the rest of my time around arts and crafts. I learned an awesome new printmaking method, ways to reuse old clothing, plastic bags, and other materials to recreate new designs, and lots more about sewing and knitting. Below, Sarah teaches us a little about crocheting jewelry.