What makes a makerspace? 

A makerspace is, quite literally, a place where people go to make physical things, hands-on. It could involve anything from 3D printing and vinyl cutting to carving wood and stone, and everything in-between, including jewelry and textiles. Is it art? Is it a business? Who knows — sometimes not even the makers themselves. 

While, in a sense, all makerspaces are intended for education, many makerspaces and maker programs are specifically intended for educating children or young adults, often associated with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) or STEAM (adding arts) instruction. But Idaho features a number of makerspaces intended to support business users as well. 

“There are always people coming up with great ideas — sometimes for fun or a passion project, but some want to go on to the next step and create the project,” said Erin Lanigan, executive director of Gizmo CdA. “We help them do that themselves rather than having to hire out to build it for them.” 

So what goes into making a makerspace?

What does the community need? 

Makerspace mavens agree that the place to start with developing a makerspace is working with the community to find out what its needs are.  

Gizmo CdA, in Coeur d’Alene, got its start eight years ago as part of the CdA 2030 program, envisioning what Coeur d’Alene would look like in 2030, Lanigan said.  

“Makerspaces were a lot less of a thing, but they were still a thing,” Lanigan said.  

Gizmo started out on Fourth Street downtown, where it lived for three years, founded by Barbara and Marty Mueller. “Marty had a huge machining background, and Barb was a master weaver,” Lanigan said.  

In contrast, the Unbound branch of the Meridian Library District started with a single 3D printer, said Cortnie Brown, business liaison librarian. When the space started, it was more of a teen hangout spot with 3D printing, virtual reality (VR) and robotics, she said. But in getting a feel for the needs of the community, “we really discovered there was a gap with having access to a makerspace in general,” she said.  

When the Unbound space was lost to redevelopment, it moved temporarily to the Cherry Lane branch, focusing on 3D printing, while it looked for a new home.  

“We got into, ‘what’s the bigger need in the community?’” Brown said. “When we opened the new Unbound branch, we decided to go with a strict business technology focus, and we don’t focus on VR or robotics so much. With this branch, we’re trying to help people start their business.” That could mean access to resources or help starting a limited liability corporation as well as using machines, she said.  

“I wouldn’t say we perfected our audience, but we have a better idea of their needs,” she added.  

The Idaho Burners Alliance, in Boise, was founded in 2015. “We didn’t really have a total vision in mind, since our purpose has been and is now to allow the community to shape how we operate, what we offer,” said co-owner Kaden Sinclair in an email message. “We started with building some art projects, and then the community found that they liked to build pieces for spaces like JUMP and the Idaho Botanical Garden. A group started building things for Treefort and Goathead fest.” 

At the same time, people also ask for help on household things like plumbing, electrical or painting; borrow tools; come in for welding and host bazaars to sell items they’ve made, Sinclair said. “We had people show up who just wanted a place to be around other people,” he added. 

Unbound isn’t the only library-based makerspace. “There are quite a few libraries with robust making spaces,” said Erica Compton, now program manager for the Idaho STEM Action Center but previously a project coordinator for the Idaho Commission for Libraries who started Make It at the Library, in an email message. “In many of our small communities, these spaces are critical to their populace,” such as Salmon Public Library, which has a wide array of tools and expertise ranging from recreating small parts for a tractor to helping prototype inventions, she said.  

Similarly, the East Bonner County Library offers 3D printers at its Sandpoint and Clark Fork branches, said Brenden Bobby, exploration coordinator for experiential and STEM learning, in an email message. “A number of local small businesses have utilized this service to prototype designs or create décor or advertising for their space.”  

The library is currently assessing and researching community needs, he added. 

What should the makerspace have in it? 

The other two components are kind of chicken-and-the-egg. Do you find a space first and then figure out what equipment to put in it? Or do you collect your equipment and then find a place to put it? Some makerspaces do one, some do the other, and some have done both. 

Gizmo, for example, has had a number of its members donate their own machines. This isn’t all altruistic — it means the people still get to use them, but they don’t have to find space for them in their homes and garages, Lanigan said.  

Unbound has both filament and resin 3D printers, large-format printers for posters and large-format laminators, woodworking machines, laser engravers that can even engrave cups, form boxes to make molds, digitization tools for transferring media between formats and a sound studio for recording podcasts or music, Brown said.  

Where should the makerspace be? 

Makerspaces, particularly ones that get the space first and fill it later, often end up happening through some serendipitous donation of space.  

For example, when North Idaho College opened its Parker Career and Technical Education Facility in 2016, that left the Lewiston-based community college’s tech space vacant, and Gizmo moved on campus — going in a leap from 2,600 square feet to 8,500 square feet. And it wasn’t just space, but space designed to be diesel and automotive bays. 

“What a cool collaboration space,” Lanigan said. 

But how to use it? Gizmo went back to the community and surveyed it to find what was missing, and that’s when Gizmo started exploring its softer side. Technologies like 3D printing and laser cutters aren’t always easy to get into, and there was a desire to have space for creative arts such as jewelry, quilting, leathermaking, textile printers, banner printers and dye sublimation printers for printing logos on items such as mugs, Lanigan said.  

Having the space already divided into bays lent itself to setting up “shops” of related technologies, generally based on the material being used, Lanigan said. They include a wood shop; metal shop with a blacksmith, lathes and mills and a welding area; a textile area; a pottery studio; a small electronics lab with microcontrollers such as Raspberry Pis; a laser room with laser cutters for wood and acrylic; a 3D printing area; a lapidary studio for rock and gem cutting and tumbling and an emerging media arts facility that includes VR, a green screen and audio/video production, she said.  

How do you run it? 

Obviously, makerspaces need funding and staff. Gizmo, for example, charges rates based on the number of hours people want to use machinery during the month. It starts at $36 for students for 8 hours through corporate at $200 for unlimited use. Many Coeur d’Alene businesses have corporate memberships, Lanigan said, not just to support the facility, but so they can have access to equipment when they need it.  

“It makes a lot more sense than purchasing a $60,000 machine,” she said.  

The Gizmo organization — which now boasts six full-time staff (including two funded by the Idaho STEM Action Center) as well as part-time staff, largely students — also gets donations and writes grants, Lanigan said. 

Because Unbound is part of the library, many of its resources are free, and people don’t have to be Meridian residents, Brown said. For example, meeting space and the sound studio are free for the first hour and $15/hour after that. 3D printing costs $.05 per gram, which is at-cost, she said, adding, “We don’t make a profit.” The large format printer is $3 per linear foot, and machines such as the laser engraver are free — just bring in your own materials. 

The Idaho Burners Alliance is currently working on ways to make money, such as opening a coffeeshop and adding a biodome, and eventually gardens and rehearsal and performing spaces, Sinclair said.  

“We figure we should find a way to create a place that people want to be in all the time, to explore, experience, and learn,” he said. “That can generate revenue, which in turn can go to creative endeavors and the people who should be paid to create things.” 

What businesses do makerspaces support? 

The innovative aspect about makerspaces is that, while people might come in to do a thing, hanging around with makers gives them ideas to do other things, Lanigan said. Those businesses can range from an Etsy shop to Coeur d’Alene additive printing startup Continuous Composites, she said.  

“We had a potter who was hand-etching her own pottery and selling it, but she realized, ‘Could I laser-cut this or use the router?’” Lanigan said. “It looked the exact same and saved so much time.” 

In addition, Gizmo partners with NIC’s Venture Network and with Boise State University’s new product development lab. “The idea is asking people who have an entrepreneurial idea or product to take to market, how to launch, build and growth their business,” Lanigan said. Equipment like 3D printers and laser cutters help a business develop prototypes before sending a product to market, she said.  

Unbound has 18 podcasts coming out of its sound studio, Brown said. “Guests come in to speak, and then they start their own podcast,” she said.  

Businesses also use the library’s laser engraver to engrave their logos on mugs and glasses and such, she said.  

Like any iterative process, a makerspace is never “done.” It should be revisited on a regular basis to see whether it still meets the community’s needs; whether the equipment needs to be supplemented, updated or removed and what changes might need to be made to the space itself. 

“It’s all about getting a feel for what the community needs,” Brown said. “What are the gaps? What’s lacking for resources? The best starting point is to build the foundation. We don’t want to make a replica of what the community already has.” 

“We’re so fortunate to have this space, but if we didn’t have the equipment that people wanted to use, we’d just be a building with machinery in it,” Lanigan said. 

— This article was originally published in the Idaho Business Review October 2022 edition of Square Feet.