Dumpster diving and dollar stores. Purse-shaped post-it’s and animal lubricant. When you’re building a makerspace on a budget, you learn that resources are everywhere—and they aren’t always what you expect.
For three years I and my fellow cofounders Kim Martin and Beth Compton, have created, developed, and run Canada’s first mobile makerspace—the MakerBus. As an entirely community-driven (pun intended) makerspace, we have had to master doing a lot with very little. As we have learned, while money is extremely useful, no amount of it can replace the value of an engaged, creative community. Below I share some ideas for creating makerspaces at various price points, offering advice for building a $100 and a (nearly) $0 community makerspace.
Creativity is priceless
When it comes to creating a makerspace,…
