Help! Looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces

December 30th, 2012 by marcus

Studio Melt — A Renew Newcastle project

Help! I’m looking for interesting examples of Maker Places from around the world.

Over the last few months, i’ve been doing some extensive research and note taking for a book that explores the idea of what i’m calling Maker Places. The book builds on the work of Renew Newcastle, Renew Adelaide and Renew Australia and is about one particular aspect of that work: how a surge of DIY, small scale, maker based creativity online is reflected (or fails to be) in the real world.

A lot of what Renew Newcastle’s projects have been about is getting digital cottage industries, Etsy stores, Flickr photographers and other digitally connected creative types into real world spaces. As noticed in this recent TEDx talk it’s something I’ve noticed that most cities and places don’t do very well and (as I believe Renew Newcastle has demonstrated) it is something that offers a great deal of untapped potential for bringing real business, economic development and cultural vitality to real world communities.

At this stage i’m working up a book that weaves together real world stories and examples from around the world of how makers have made the transition from the online world to the offline one. I’m interested particularly in examples of where makers have grown their online businesses into successful real world ones, where this new layer of activity has made a real difference and also stories of places where the cost, complexity or other difficulties of accessing spaces have made it too difficult for makers to bother with.

Over the next few months, all going to plan, i will be trying to gain the interest of a few publishers in Australian and around the world. I may well be trying to hit up the community to help crowd fund the project and trying to apply for a few fellowships and grants to travel and visit some of the more interesting examples i’d like to feature in the book. For now though, i’d really welcome people to contact me from all over the world with any leads, stories or examples of interesting makers, projects and places that it would be ideal to incorporate in the book or include in my own general research.

You can drop me a line via email (myfirstname.mylastname@gmail.com) via Facebook or via @unsungsongs or using the #makerplaces hashtag on twitter. Thanks for your help.

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Tags: Book · Etsy · Flickr · MakerPlaces · Renew Australia · Renew Newcastle · TEDx17 Comments

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17 responses so far ↓

1 sallywhitwell Dec 30, 2012 at 4:50 pm

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
2 bakingforbrad Dec 30, 2012 at 4:55 pm

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
3 DaveVK2 Dec 30, 2012 at 4:58 pm

@unsungsongs Marcus there is a community in Scotland at Findhorn that has been running on eco enterprise principles since the 70′s.
4 DaveVK2 Dec 30, 2012 at 5:00 pm

@unsungsongs The have a publishing house, houses for tourists, cafes, crafts, international conferences and workshops. Attract people globl
5 DaveVK2 Dec 30, 2012 at 5:02 pm

@unsungsongs Strip away the ‘New Age’ bit from Findhorn and they are very enterprising group of people.
6 HACKarchitect Dec 30, 2012 at 5:26 pm

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
7 lianerossler Dec 30, 2012 at 6:18 pm

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
8 niftycorp Dec 30, 2012 at 6:38 pm

@unsungsongs Tinkering School is pretty fab! t.co/8ILNTKJi #MakerPlaces #tinkering
9 JMachin3 Dec 30, 2012 at 6:39 pm

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
10 niftycorp Dec 30, 2012 at 6:39 pm

@unsungsongs and the school tinkering school spawned – BrightWorks t.co/G3sbE63U
11 IngridHorton Dec 30, 2012 at 6:41 pm

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
12 niftycorp Dec 30, 2012 at 7:16 pm

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
13 sydlets Dec 30, 2012 at 7:37 pm

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
14 CurlyAlexandria Dec 30, 2012 at 7:46 pm

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
15 gusseting Dec 31, 2012 at 9:59 am

RT @unsungsongs: Help! I’m looking for inspiring examples of #MakerPlaces from around the world… t.co/B7FCKTDR
16 projectgus Dec 31, 2012 at 10:08 am

@unsungsongs Hackerspaces aren’t really what you’re asking for but are very online/offline. ie t.co/Zl3BCoOO t.co/ruSfDy9j
17 Sarah Jan 4, 2013 at 3:51 am

Check out our website for our space in Portland, OR. I’d be happy to chat with you about any questions you have.

marcus westbury

my life. on the internets.