Maker Faires are celebrations of the DIY ethic, an exhibition for amateur inventors and garden shed engineers. The first was held in 2006, organised by Make magazine, but the concept has spread. Maker fairs have been held in various parts of the world, and in 2009 an organisation came together to bring it to Africa. Today and tomorrow Make Faire Africa is taking place in Lagos.
It’s an opportunity for African creators to meet each other, learn from each other, and showcase their ingenuity. As MFA put it, many of their inventions remain in the ‘punk of the bush’ – local DIY solutions that might be close to genius, but completely unknown. This is a chance to change that, and give Africa’s inventors the attention they deserve. Had it been running 20 years ago, I could have recommended plenty of local Malagasy mechanics or TV repairmen, self-taught and using the most rudimentary of tools.
The exhibition includes a maker space where people can learn new skills and experiment with technologies such as Lego Mindstorm robotics, Raspberry Pi mini-computers, soldering and 3D printing. And of course there are all kinds of exhibitors working in agriculture, textiles and sanitation, right through to architecture, apps and robotics.
Previous years have seen a group who recycle waste paper into screen-printed paper bags for boutiques, custom-made heavy-duty bikes made to order in Kisumu (they can build in a phone charger on request). Another inventor demonstrated homemade solar-powered LED traffic lights. He had open sourced the design and is hoping that city councils around Africa will be inspired to build and fit them.
If you don’t happen to be reading this in Lagos, you’ll have to join me in following along on Twitter, on Facebook, or on the blog. And since I like it, I will write about it tomorrow too.
The Earthbound Report 