NEWSROOM

Community of creators launch University of Auckland Maker Club

18 March 2022

The University of Auckland Maker Club is dedicated to gathering makers of all abilities and backgrounds to learn from each other, share ideas, and of course, bring those ideas to life. The club hopes to empower the next generation of curious-minded creators and problem solvers by providing opportunities to pick up new skills, play, experiment, and prototype.

Zac Miller-Waugh, President of the Maker Club, says “To me, the Maker Club is all about building an on-campus community of people who like making, crafting, designing, or creating things of any kind. I love seeing the crazy things people invent in their free time and building a community for that has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while now. The Maker Club is for everyone who wants to make – be that using code, lasers, hammers, or knitting needles.”

Being a maker is about more than creating ‘things’ – for Zac, it means “putting your creative energy into bringing an idea you’re excited about into the real world whether that be in the form of a physical object, a story, an experience, or otherwise. The idea that I could make things started pretty young. My parents really fostered the idea that I could just give things a go and see how it turns out. That same energy is still with me and over time I’ve slowly grown the confidence to throw myself at projects with reckless abandon. Usually, something interesting happens, and those results (good or bad) push me onto the next thing.”

Unlike Zac, Maker Club Secretary Kate Ricketts’s experience as a maker kicked off fairly recently when she discovered Unleash Space, the University of Auckland’s innovation hub and maker space run by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She says, “I’ve always liked following tutorials and playing around with different hobbies and crafts, but learning how to use the equipment in the maker space really got my confidence up about expanding into original projects and challenges.”

Being a community of makers, it seemed only fitting that members of the club play an integral role in designing the club. “We would love members to have a huge amount of input,” says Kate. “They will have the opportunity at weekly meetings to facilitate workshops in their areas of passion, and we will often put out different ideas for events and allow members to vote on what excites them.”

The Maker Club’s official 2022 Launch Night was held as a hybrid event, with fifty makers coming together at Unleash Space and many more joining via Zoom. There are now more than 300 members in the Maker Club discord channel. Kate says, “We recognise that with the pandemic, people will have varying degrees of comfort around attending in-person events. We plan to have a good spread of online and in-person events so everyone can be a part of this community.”

Zac says, “The Launch Night was a hectic mix of introductions, brainstorming, and creation. Wandering around the room at any point you could hear people getting excited together over their passions and hobbies. My personal highlight was hearing all the ideas people had for events. It was really clear that there was a lot of creativity and passion going into people’s suggestions, and hearing the ripples of excitement around some of the ideas travelling through the room was fantastic to see. It was an awesome way to kick off the year, and I’m so excited for what’s ahead.”

Members of the Maker Club receive access to a year-long schedule of events and workshops (ranging from food science through to crocheting and robotics), opportunities to network with a community of like-minded individuals (including those external to the University), and after-hours access to the Unleash Space Maker Space.

Sign up to the Maker Club for free, and join their Discord, Facebook, and Instagram to stay connected. The Maker Club meets every Friday evening in Unleash Space.