Illustration by Jessica Dunham
When the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library’s (CHPL) Madisonville Branch MakerSpace opened in 2023, Katie Fiorelli of Katenip Vintage Whimsy was one of its first customers. On the day I interviewed Fiorelli, her creations were in tow: vintage-style fussy-cut stamps, buttons, magnets, and cutesy stickers with slogans like “free mom hugs” and “book club superstar.”
Makerspaces can broadly be defined as workshops where crafters from an array of disciplines and interests work on projects. CHPL has six across its 41 branches, including its recently renovated downtown location. According to Communications Director Joe Armstrong, part of that can be linked to the library system’s ongoing efforts to modernize its locations.
While there are fees to use MakerSpace materials, it’s at a fraction of the cost you’d find elsewhere, and employees can walk first-timers through the equipment, which varies across branches. Staff taught Fiorelli how to use Adobe Illustrator to make her designs. “Our focus is access and we see ourselves as the provider of, not just information and books, but also space and materials,” says Madisonville Branch Manager Jenna Felsheim. “The MakerSpace falls in that. There shouldn’t be a cost barrier and through using our shared resources, we’re able to provide that.”
Beyond CHPL, Greater Cincinnati has seen a growth in available makerspaces in the past decade in other public libraries, universities, and membership-based facilities.
That interdisciplinary ethos is apparent when you walk into Camp Washington’s Hive13: a sprawling 11,500-square-foot space bent on community. When I visited, members sat chatting in the lounge area, one person showing off their newly acquired yarn. Another shared their love of the laser machine. Back in woodworking, someone was making a table.
Konstantinos Perentesis, Hive13’s outreach chair, says membership has exploded since the COVID-19 pandemic as more people explored handicrafts. When they joined in 2016, members numbered around 65 and have since swelled to more than 250. “The joy of creation is a universal experience,” says Perentesis. “Having places that facilitate that joy of creation and encourage and celebrate it anywhere is a win.”
As much as Hive13 is about creation, Perentesis also points out that it’s about collaboration. “I cannot tell you how many jobs have come to people from Hive13,” they say.
Lucy Weaver, coordinator of unit operations for the UC Ground Floor Makerspace, shares a similar sentiment. Described as the most advanced makerspace in the region, Weaver says it’s the only lab on campus that’s truly cross-disciplinary. “We’re one of the few places where an engineering student and a design student can meet each other and actually see what each other are working on,” she says. “One of them may be more concerned with the user experience and aesthetic, and one might be more concerned with the mechanical function. Ultimately, they’re in the same space using similar tools.”
While students get free access to the space, it’s also open to the public through membership. Housed in the 1819 Innovation Hub in Avondale, it currently has two startups in residence fabricating prototypes. Weaver says some professionals have hired students after seeing them using the equipment. Three biomedical UC students—Matthew Karp, Natalie Yeretzian, and Benjamin Wenner—used Ground Floor to build Vertetrain, a device aiming to better treat severe pediatric scoliosis. The device won first place in UC’s Biomedical Engineering Expo “Do It or mDIEp” competition.
“It’s really awesome to see this clear breadcrumb trail of aspirational work being built and left for people to see themselves in that path. As a makerspace, I’m not trying to sell people access to tools,” says Weaver. “I’m trying to sell them on the journey of making things.”
Get your hands dirty! Hive13 membership is $50 a month, $100 for cornerstone members, and $13.37 for full-time students.
Facebook Comments