Later on this month (between the 12-14th October) is the Maker Faire Rome! It’s a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness that celebrates the ‘Maker Movement’. The “Maker Movement” is a technology influences DIY community, building a myriad of wild and wonderful creations. Makers are often designers, hobbyists, researchers and students. The Maker Faire originated in 2006 in San Francisco as a side project of the editors of Make: magazine.
It’s now grown into several worldwide offshoots of independently produced events. Maker Faire Rome is the European edition if Maker Faire. It’s organised by the Rome Chamber of Commerce and is a non-profit event. The Maker Faire Rome in 2017 had over 100,000 visitors and over 500 press and media.
Maker Faire Rome is an event that showcases hundreds of projects from around the world. Visitors to the Maker Faire Rome will find inventions and creations in the areas of Science and Technology, Arts and Entertainments, Crafts and Food too! The pillars of the Maker Faire Rome are Discover, Invent and Make, and it’s a place where anyone can get ‘hands on’ and create. Children and adults can get involved in hundreds of fun and educational activities and get engaged in workshops, conferences, entertaining activities. You can book tickets to the Maker Faire Rome here.
There’s a keynote talk from world renowned designer Francisco Gomez Paz. He’ll be covering what the role of building in design is, and speak about the value of self-production for contemporary designs. Also attending the Maker Faire Rome is the ADI – Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (Association for the Industrial Design). The ADI brings together professionals, researchers, teachers, critics, journalists around the main topics of design: project, energy consumption, recycling and training. The ADI will be exhibiting at Maker Faire Rome 10 projects that show the perfect matching between design and the makers approach.
The Maker Faire Rome is split into seven massive areas –
Makers on Stage
Young Makers
Drones / Kids & Education
Makers for Space / Research
Electronics / Fabrication
Circular Economy
Design / Life
I really like that there’s a specific area for ‘Kids & Education’ Where older children and teenagers can explore coding, robotics and science. Hopefully stimulating a passion into STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Maths) subjects. Plus with Christmas around the corner the Maker Faire Rome is an excellent places to pick up some weird and wonderful gift ideas.
The Maker Faire Rome is very easy to reach, with trains running directly to it. There are plenty of food and drink offerings with Street Food outlets and Deli options too. The event is almost entirely indoors, so even if the weather isn’t great, you can still enjoy it. Rome is an incredible city to wander around too, so you could make a long weekend of it.
Whilst it’s unlikely I’ll get to Maker Faire Rome this year, it’s definitely one for the calendar next year!
