CHAPTER 1

Maker Movement Manifesto

In the spirit of making, I strongly suggest you take this manifesto, makechanges to it, and make it your own. That is the point of making.

MAKE

Making is fundamental to what it means to be human.We must make, create, and express ourselves to feelwhole. There is something unique about makingphysical things. Things we make are like little piecesof us and seem to embody portions of our soul.

Make. Just make. This is the key. The world is a better place as a participatorysport. Being creative, the act of creating and making, is actually fundamentalto what it means to be human. Secular philosophers like Georg Wilhelm FriedrichHegel, Carl Jung, and Abraham Maslow all came to the conclusion that creativeacts are fundamental. Physical making is more personally fulfilling than virtualmaking. I think this has to do with its tangibility; you can touch it andsometimes smell and taste it. A great sentence or well-written blog is creativeand makes you feel good about what you have accomplished, but it is not the sameas the satisfaction that comes from the physical labor involved in makingsomething physical.

If you come from a Judeo-Christian religious background, whether Jewish,Protestant, or Catholic, then you know that the first book of the Torah or OldTestament is the book of Genesis. Read Genesis Chapter 1 closely. Whether youbelieve in the literal interpretation of Creation or not, we can probably agreeon two things coming out of this chapter. God is a maker, and he made us in hisimage. It is a very powerful introduction to God and who we are as humans. Whatdo you know about humanity by the end of the chapter? It says, "God made" (or"let," or "created") some 15 times and ends with making people in his image. Atthe end of Genesis 1, we may not know much about God or humans, but we do knowone thing for sure: we were made to make.

There is nothing that can replace making—philosophers, religious scholars, andpersonal experience make that clear. Wars have been fought when the commonpeople thought they were going to lose access to ownership of their ownproductive tools. So the first thing we must do is make. The do-it-yourself(DIY) home improvement industry in the United States is worth over $700 billion.The hobbyist segment is worth over $25 billion. The most valuable segment of the$700 billion DIY is the perpetual remodeler, specifically those who have enoughmoney to let business professionals do the work for them, but don't. You mightknow or even be one of these people. In your heart of hearts, you know you don'treally need to redo the bathroom, or certainly not the way you plan to do it,yourself. But you do it anyway. This is because there is more satisfaction incompleting the remodel yourself.

A makerspace is a center or workspace where like-minded people get together tomake things. Some makerspace members are designers, writers, practitioners ofmedicine or law, architects, and other white-collar types who come in and startmaking things for themselves, their families, and friends. They spend time inmakerspaces because they just love to make things. They don't need to makeChristmas presents; they want to.

Tina Albin-Lax had made a New Year's resolution for 2012. She was going to learnhow to make something. She signed up for TechShop's basic laser cutter class andhas never been the same since. For $60, she learned how to use a laser cutter.Then she booked it for the next day so she could practice what she had justlearned, but she needed a project to practice on. As luck would have it, thatevening Tina's sibling called and invited her to attend her nephew's birthdayparty that weekend. With a flash of brilliance, Tina asked for the names of allthe children who would be at the party.

The next day Tina used her new training to make cupcake toppers for each of theparty attendees. Using the laser cutter, Tina cut out the name of each child andetched in some nice patterns. She finished them with a nice glossy coat and thatweekend put one on each child's cupcake. What child doesn't love to see his orher name emblazoned on something? Particularly something chocolaty and sweet?Not surprisingly, the parents wanted cupcake toppers for the rest of theirchildren and then wanted them for their children's parties. It snowballed.

Soon Tina had an online store (www.etsy.com). Then she began teaching classes onhow to launch a business and had a great mention in Martha Stewart's magazine,Martha Stewart Living. Her phone couldn't make it through the day from all theorder notifications she was getting. Last I heard, she was working on a book.

This all came about from a simple desire to make something for the first timesince sixth grade. An accidental entrepreneur was born. And what was Tina'sbackground? She was a labor organizer.

I grew up playing neighborhood football with a kid named Ben Parks. His dad wasa ceramic artist and had throwing wheels, clay, and amazing glazes around hishouse. One day his dad invited us all to come out and throw a pot. What a greatafternoon. I attempted to make a large vase—and after what seemed like dozens ofattempts and lots of help and encouragement—I ended up with a sad-looking,lopsided, very small coin holder. It will hold a couple of dollars' worth ofquarters. I glazed it beautifully with help from Ben's dad. A couple of dayslater, after it had been fired, I got to take it home.

This thing is an ugly duckling that will never grow up, but guess what ... Istill have it. It's small enough that I've taken it everywhere I have moved. Itsonly value is that I made it and it is some kind of memento from my childhood.Looking back, I realize now that I was not the target of that day of making,though I still appreciate the gift it was. Ben eventually became a ceramicartist himself, following in his father's footsteps. There is somethingfundamental about making.

SHARE

Sharing what you have made and what you knowabout making with others is the method bywhich a maker's feeling of wholenessis achieved. You cannot make and not share.

We make to share. Each of us is wired to show off what we have made. We get alot of satisfaction out of the making, but the real payoff is in sharing. Somepeople are coy about showing their work off. Others are just terrified. One ofthe reasons we may have stopped making is that what we set out to make and whatwe ended up with may not match very well. Or others...