Written by Three full days of exciting workshops featuring makers and innovators from all around the world!
Across from re:publica’s big halls and right at the end was Hall 8 with its big windows allowing a natural light on our high table from the Makerspace where dozens of people gathered around every day to learn and make new things. Together with Global Innovation Gathering, the Makerspace at re:publica24 hosted three full days of exciting workshops featuring makers and innovators from all around the world, including Togo, Iraq, Nigeria, Singapore, Brazil, Germany and more.
At the exhibition, right next to the Makerspace, an Open-Source Hardware Exhibition featured a 2-meter-long Bamboo tower revealing how open-source technologies can aid permaculture for sustainable food production and everyday care. Right next to it, LibreWater exhibited its most recent open hardware for the desalination of seawater using solar energy.
The maker culture is nothing short of a movement for change, be it for climate or the empowerment of remote and local communities. Attendees came to learn that open source enables repurposing and reusing unused 3D printers into another useful gadget that prints braille on paper.
On finding creative ways to upcycle, a workshop on upcycling thrifted garments using Generated AI was held during the “Prompting for Pullovers” session. A discussion on the right to repair the EU directive with the German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection Steffi Lemke was also held. The minister highlighted the major importance of taking repairability and sustainability into account right from the design stage.
Whether it was hanging around at the co-working area or the Brazilian “Farofa” Cushions before the upside down map of the globe for a quick discussion on democracy, the Makerspace remains a place with pumping energy where abstract ideas become a reality, and communities come together to exchange and imagine a far more just future world.
Yes, we care, mostly for the unheard and the most vulnerable. The Makerspace aims to ensure that open-source technologies are available to serve areas most affected by climate change and political instability/injustice.
We were honored to have German Federal Minister Steffi Lemke visit the Makerspace. Special thanks to our supporting partners Distributed Design Platform, xHain and Machbar Potsdam who without, the Makerspace would not have been possible.
