FabLab.nl

Every now and then I spend a day in a FabLab just to see what people are doing. What I notice is how all visitors tend to leave with a big smile on their face, after having used the capabilities of the FabLab. Somehow making things appeals to us all on an emotional level.

During Fab6 I asked a few people to share one anecdote from their FabLab about something that caught their eye. I only recorded three of them. But I think the format worked, so I will try and start collecting some more stories from the FabTables we have every six weeks.

How holding an object in your hand changes your idea

For kids FabLab is the ‘new normal’

Seeing a FabLab is getting curious about a FabLab

(See all 40+ videos about Fab6)

De deadline voor deelname aan de (Un)limited Design Contest 2010 komt alweer in zicht. Speciaal voor diegenen die nog mee willen doen, maar wel wat (technische) ondersteuning kunnen gebruiken, wordt er in de Fablabs in Amsterdam, Utrecht en Groningen, een (Un)limited Design Dag georganiseerd.

Iedereen kan meedoen. Bedenk wat je zou willen maken, neem je materialen mee en kom het Fablab. Daar staat die dag een team experts klaar om je te helpen met het digitaliseren van je idee, het aansturen van de machines en het produceren van je product.

Als je komt, doe je automatisch mee en maak je kans op internationale promotie en verkoop via Etsy.com en exposure op het festival PICNIC’10 (picnicnetwork.org) dat van 22-24 september op de Westergasfabriek wordt gehouden. En als je wint, win je een (open source) 3D-printer! Een kans om niet te missen!

Hoe de (Un)limited Design Contest 2010 werkt en alle tot dusver ingestuurde ontwerpen (die van 2010 zijn te herkennen aan de toevoeging ‘new’) zijn te vinden op de website:

unlimiteddesigncontest.org

De (Un)limited Design Dag is uiteraard gratis toegankelijk.

Wanneer? 3 september 2010 van ca. 10-17 uur

Waar? Fablab Amsterdam, Utrecht en Groningen.

Fab6, the 6th global conference of the world wide FabLab network was a blast last week.

We, the FabLabs in the Netherlands loved to be your host! Bye bye for now ….... see you in Lima in 2011.

Fab6 crowd waving good bye (photo by Frosti)

Meanwhile don’t be a stranger on-line. Stay in touch. (And here’s a PDF on how to stay in touch)

The FabLab Foundation Netherlands would like to thank everybody who helped make Fab6 happen!

• Paulien, Fiona, Peter, Nicole, Sherry for getting the show on the road.
• Jaap, Harmen, Xander, Gertjan, Alex, Bart, Peter, Thuur, Petra, Siert, Joris, Anu for being great hosts in the FabLabs of Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Amersfoort, and Groningen. I’ve heard nothing but great reactions from participants about the spaces you have created.
• Our kind sponsors and supporters
• All participants, who shaped the sessions and strengthened the FabLab spirit by coming to Fab6
• The courageous boat builders that gave us a spectacular and hilarious closing activity

Thank you all!

Can’t get enough? There’s heaps of photos and video’s on-line.

See 30+ videos at FabLab’s own video channel.

Pictures are available from:
Anu
Matt Cottam
Fing
Mount Elliott Makerspace
Fabulous St. Pauli
QuadShop
Us Media
Jean Baptiste Paris
FabLab Vestmannareyja
Ton Zijlstra

Some of the session notes can be found on the front page of the FabLab wiki, under Fab6. Also feel free to join and continue the discussion on the FabFolk forum.

Thank you to all who shared photos, videos and session notes on-line.

Maandagavond was een kort item over FabLab en Fab6 op het NOS Journaal, met de titel “De FabLab Revolutie”

Tevens verscheen er een artikel in dagblad Trouw over de conferentie getiteld Iets maken van bits en bytes.

After months of preparation volunteers, the Waag Society production team and MIT are ready to welcome you to

The yearly global conference about digital fabrication and FabLab community meet-up, August 16th-20th

The ‘Stichting FabLab Nederland’, the Dutch FabLab Foundation thanks all those involved in making this event happen! Dank jullie wel!

Program
All relevant information on the program can be found at the Fab6 website of course, but we’ll highlight a few things here.

• Sunday August 15th: early bird party with the Instructables Restaurant. All the furniture, as well as the food is based on designs and recipes found at Instructables.com.
• Monday will see the official opening and a series of workshops in Amsterdam.
• Tuesday activities take place in the FabLab in Utrecht, Groningen as well as Amersfoort, where the Dutch mobile FabLab has set up camp.
• Wednesday activities take place in the FabLabs in Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Groningen and Amersfoort (mobile FabLab)
• Thursday symposium day at the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW) in Amsterdam. You can still join us there.
• Friday, closing sessions in Amsterdam

This year we explore the implications and consequences of personal digital fabrication for art, business, industry, culture and education. We are poised on the threshold of a new era, like that of the Industrial Revolution, emerging from access to low- cost, high-precision fabrication tools and powerful Internet-based communication capabilities which are changing the ways we think about and approach innovation, invention, intellectual property, creative processes, manufacturing and distribution, business models, and social and cultural networks. In a world where anyone can access the tools to make or create almost anything, the possibilities are limitless. This is the Industrial®Evolution, a socioeconomic and technical evolution from mechanical means of production to digital means of production and communication.

You can follow Fab6 on-line with @Fab6nl, streaming video through the Polycom video conferencing system, through the tag #fab6 and at 23Video.

We welcome you to the Netherlands and to Fab6!

(English version below)

Woensdag 25 augustus is er weer een FabTafel. Na een week vol Fab6, treffen we elkaar in het gloednieuwe FabLab Arnhem! Je bent vanaf 15:00 van harte welkom.

De vorige FabTafel bezochten we ook al een nieuw FabLab, dat in Leuven, om Marc Lambaerts eindelijk eens een tegenbezoek te kunnen brengen na al zijn ritjes naar het noorden om ons te ontmoeten. Dit keer dus wederom een nieuw FabLab als gastheer. Het FabLab Arnhem gaat met het nieuwe collegejaar echt van start aan de Hogeschool Arnhem. Vorige maand werd het officieel geopend.

Bij de FabTafel is er uitgebreid gelegenheid kennis te maken met FabLab Arnhem, na te praten over Fab6 en nieuwe plannen te smeden voor het FabLab netwerk in de komende jaren. Laat even weten of je komt (mail ton@fablab.nl), zodat we daar in catering rekening mee kunnen houden.

FabLab Arnhem is gevestigd in de D-vleugel (ruimte D0.05) van het gebouw van de Faculteit Techniek van de Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen, Ruitenberglaan 26, 6826 CC Arnhem

FabTafels vinden elke zes weken plaats bij een van de FabLabs in Nederland. FabTafels beginnen om 15:00 en gaan altijd door ongeacht het aantal deelnemers. De volgende data, na 25 augustus, zijn 6 oktober, 17 november, 5 januari (2011). Telkens vanaf 15:00 uur.

English version

Wednesday August 25th the next FabTable will take place. In the week after Fab6, we’ll meet at the newly opened FabLab Arnhem.

During the last FabTable we also visited a new FabLab, in Leuven. Finally we could make a return visit to Marc Lambaerts, after the many trips north he made to join us at FabTables. This time another new FabLab is host to the FabTable. Having been opened officially last month, the FabLab Arnhem will really get started now with the start of the new university year.

At the FabTable we will have ample time to get to know FabLab Arnhem better, reflect on our experiences at Fab6, and to make new plans for the coming months.

Let me know if you will attend the FabTable (mail ton@fablab.nl), so we can make sure we have enough drinks and snacks.

FabLab Arnhem is located in the D-wing (room D0.05) of the building for the technology faculty at Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen, address Ruitenberglaan 26, 6826 CC Arnhem

FabTables take place every six weeks, regardless of who is or isn’t coming. We start at 15:00hrs. The next FabTables will take place, besides August 25th, on October 6th, November 17th and January 5th (2011).

If you think a FabLab is cool, then you probably think a mobile FabLab is doubly cool. It not only does what a FabLab does, but you can invite it to come to you.

That’s exactly what the people behind the Hamburg FabLab initiative have done. To demonstrate to interested people what a FabLab can be, they arranged for a visit of Jaap Vermaas’s FabLab Truck.

From August 4th until August 6th you can find the FabLab Truck parked in Hamburg, and you can take part in different workshops from 14:00-21:00.

They made a little video introducing both the truck and the FabLab.

The FabLab Truck comes with one Makerbot 3D printer, a laser cutter, a vinyl cutter, and the FabLab video conferencing system. A RepRap 3D printer and a CNC milling machine are still in the process of being built.

For more pictures of the FabLab Truck and the FabLab Hamburg initiative see their Flickr photoset.