FAB13

We believe in a world where anyone, anywhere can fabricate with the materials around them. Digital fabrication is shifting where and how we can fabricate our physical world. This shift opens a critical need: for local production, we need local materials. We need to move from rigid global supply chains to flexible local networks, from intensive resource extraction to diverse nutrient cycling. Just as other organisms do, we need to learn to use the materials around us.
Our workshop will introduce key tools for using local materials such as bioplastics, natural composites, and recycled feedstock. We introduce a library of open source recipes made from local ingredients. We offer open source tools for measuring material properties, generating data that can be used for simulating the performance of designs made with these materials. We invite you to join us in developing these tools for your Fab Lab and the global network. Day 2: Measure: using uTest, a universal testing that can be made in your Fab Lab, we will measure the mechanical properties of materials we made. We will explore how to use this materials data in design simulation.