The Concoctory is liquidating all their gear this weekend, Sept. 12-14. (Via The Concoctory Facebook)
Hack the planet … but not from DIY makerspace The Concoctory is closing its doors September 15.
The Concoctory offered an exploratory space, drenched in DIY ethos, for the curious, the creative and everyone inbetween. It was a place for makers, crafters, artist and hackers to gather and create interesting items from repurposed materials, make something useful from scratch … or just explore one’s propensity for mad genius innovation. It was also run on a pay-what-you-can class tuition system, a month-to-month membership that ebbed and flowed, and a volunteer staff for the 24/7 operation.
“Hackerspaces can be hard to run because it’s all volunteer and non profit,” explained board member Jennifer Lucky. “We were making rent month to month but couldn’t give members anything more than that.”
But, there are no regrets.
A recent workshop showed how to make recycled sketchbooks. (Via The Concoctory Facebook)
“It was still a rewarding experience — learning, being able to meet all of the people and the relationships that were formed were totally worth it,” Lucky explained. “We still believe in the whole hackerspace mentality — learn new things, get out there and make stuff — but we just won’t have our own space for that.”
The space will become an artist’s co-op and — here’s the good news — Concoctory classes will still continue. range from amateur filmmaking to the art of lockpicking, how to create all the things using free and opensource software, or learning to solder.
“We just won’t have a set location,” Lucky said. “But Concoctory isn’t really dying. You can’t unlearn stuff.”
The Concoctory is liquidating all their stuff this weekend, Sept. 12-14 from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Lucky says the 3D printer is already spoken for, but the rest of the gear is available. The Concoctory is located at 1875 S Broadway, near Evans Ave.
