Maker

A friend recently made a relatively offhand comment about the current Maker fad. It struck me, since I make a lot of things myself.  It's true, there is a current faddy popularity in "Making", as it is called.  In typical fad fashion, it's got it's own jargon, etc. In short, it simply refers to people making things on their own.  It's different from crafting, or carpentry, or DIY in that making usually refers to technological or machine types of things, but they're all related.

I think the fad is being fueled somewhat, at least in my friend's circles, by forward thinking librarians and teachers who are rightfully trying to adapt outdated institutions to a world of increasing technology, consumerism, and independent and instant access to information.  It is a fallacy of our thinking to believe things will stay the same.  But the truth is, many of our seemingly permanent institutions are not nearly as permanent as we think.  For example, public school as we know it is only about a century old, and high school was not even common until the mid 20th century.  So in short, these places and professionals are trying to adapt to changing conditions...and this is good, even if they jump on fad trends in the process.

So, back to Making.  My friend comments that it's nothing new.  And that is right.  In fact, for me, this is part of the attraction.  You see, every culture once had an era when people understood the things around them in a way that we don't.  They crafted what they needed from the materials at hand.  Many cultures still operate in this way.  But our modern wealthy western culture has slowly distanced ourselves from this ability because of the unholy amount of readily available things to procure at great prices.  In fact, many people have turned shopping into a skill in itself.  But this falls far at the end of the chain of existence for these objects.  Back at the beginning there is still a person creating, designing, building, innovating, all of the stuff we buy.  Making is an attempt to back up to those earlier stages and understand manmade objects in a different way.  It's called Maker's Knowledge.

It's not some mystic understanding, it's just the ability to look at something and perceive the steps to constructing it.  For example, my Granddad was a Tarheel carpenter with no birth certificate and a 6th grade education.  To make something out of wood, he just needed a pattern...by which he meant a picture...not an exploded step-by-step drawing.  He could fathom the necessary steps to create it from just an image because he understood how woodwork was done.  I'm looking right now at a table he made me from a notebook sketch of a Japanese design I saw in which the table top is removable so a blanket can be placed under the frame. (In this way when it's cold, people's body heat is shared while they have a firm surface to eat, drink, or play games on...very efficient and cozy.  Some even put a small heater under the table to add warmth.)

Now, he's long dead, but I can do it with many things.  I can see an object in a store or catalog and build it myself.  Or even just dream it up and make it real.  Most of the furniture in my house is stuff I've built or modified to suit my needs.  Which leads to another aspect of Making: customization. But before I get into that, a bit more about Maker's Knowledge.

It isn't just about wood, as I said, Making refers more to technological or mechanically engineered sorts of items.  With these items, people are given a certain level of access.  A much smaller subset gains access to the 'repair and upgrade' parts of electronics.  But only the smallest fraction of people actually understand how to build it.  If it breaks, we just toss it and buy another one.  But without Maker's Knowledge, what's going to happen when replacements are no longer so easily available?  The objects will be lost along with the people who depend on them.  Not to mention, that without this knowledge, we are at the mercy of whoever has it.  We can only do what they allow us to do, for the fees they choose to charge us.  We are slaves and not free people.  We do not have access to the key means of production: the knowledge of how.  I'm not saying there's some grand conspiracy that creates this dynamic...it's simply the unintended consequence of a rich society with ample resources...but that's a whole other topic.  Here's an example closer to home.

Most people use a computer until it doesn't work.  Then they go get a tour of the new features of the latest offerings and find out "what they can do with it".  Then they buy it and adapt themselves to it's mode of operation until it again stops working.  They may have the merest understanding of how it actually works inside and may think there is nothing else to do about it.  That's just how it is, right?  Without special tools and years of high-level training, you'll never be able to build your own machine.  But this is entirely false.  I learned to build computers on my own, with self-study of advice from other Makers.  They are actually not so complicated at all.  Even the software is not so difficult.  With a little understanding, what was a black box which I simply had to expend funds on every few years has become a useful and beautiful machine that I can do anything with!  Now granted, I'm not coding from scratch...but I could with more study.  For my needs, I have found that components built by other Makers suit my needs just fine.  So I partake of their knowledge and share mine.  There's no threat in Makers sharing knowledge.  We all make what we need for ourselves and are proud to share, even happy to since our skills arise from joy.  Sharing knowledge is only threatening when our livelihood is tenuously built on others' lack.  Bad career choice, sorry.

So once again, we are led to the customization aspect.  Tools for the workers, not workers for the tools.  How many features of your phone or computer or blender do you never use?  How many times have you wished something did what it doesn't do?  Part of Making is to be able to create what you need and nothing more, but exactly what you need and nothing less.  It's a quest for harmony and balance.  Whether that be a device to take digital pictures from far overhead, a bicycle that fits your body, ability, terrain, and use, or a piece of furniture that perfectly matches and nestles into the space available for it.  You see, there was a time when most objects were like this.  You only had one carriage throughout your life and it was altered to meet your needs as they changed.  If you needed a table or a desk, you built it, or had someone build it, to fit the space and style and use.  It would be unlike anyone elses', an expression of who you are.  Making is an attempt to recapture this.

So granted, "making" and "makerspaces" and such are a fad.  But at the heart is a real community and real ideals.  Fads are often the vehicle by which ideals spread.  Sure, no one needs a one-string electric cigar-box guitar or bicycle that rides backward.  But in making them, people are learning new skills that apply elsewhere.  They're exploring new ways of thinking, new ways of living, and new abilities.  They are becoming more independent and whole, more connected to their roots, and to the roots of all people.  They are improving their own chances of thriving and perhaps even of surviving.

I think a true story will illustrate.  During hurricane Katrina, many people were trapped in attics and rooftops.  Many of them also had cell phones and video cameras.  One family videoed the devastation from their roof where they had barely been able to break through and now sat, the mother in total shock and nearly catatonic.  The father bemoaning the impending death that awaited them and pleading to no one for help.  Another family had gathered themselves and their neighbors into their finished attic with a full cooler of supplies and a full chest of tools.  They had freed their boat to float from the trailer and moored it to the roof.  Then they videoed as they called out to a fear-paralyzed family to get in an abandoned boat and float across to them.  When they got no response they set about rigging up a harness and pull line which they boated over and proceeded to haul the entire family across with them.  The first family thought they could always go get what they needed.  Life would never change and they never thought about it.  Until that illusion was shattered and they couldn't cope.  The second family had Maker's Knowledge.  They understood that they were capable and adaptable and they used those skills they had built.  They were happy and thriving even in a one of  the worst disasters the US has ever seen.

I'm not saying we're all going to face this kind of test.  But Making is beneficial even up through this type of problem.  At least, we get a custom life with unique and beautiful things, and develop some very healthy skills that keep body strong and mind sharp.  At most, we use our skills to better the lives of people who can't do for themselves.  There's no downside.  So bring it on.  Make, create, grow, innovate.  These are virtues and the more the better.