Bangalore Mini Maker Faire

Workbench Projects (WP) is a makerspace/FABLAB/ public laboratory in Bangalore. It is a unique cross-disciplinary platform for public to toy with ideas, tinker with tools and machines to prototype and build for the future. Having reclaimed a public space through a tendering process with the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, WP is the first of its kind to model a maker space under a metro station in the heart of the city.

 
Continually striving to bring disruptive practices in conventional setting it has on invitation conceived implemented and continues to curate makerspaces for educational institutions & Digital laboratories for corporates. Besides providing a fully loaded digital fabrication facility for its maker members , WP promotes projects with novelty to undergo patent filing. Designing workshops for clients ranging from Fintech to sustainability, manufacturing to software. WP is attune to the industry requirement to ensure best practices are shared and advocated for responsible innovation. Co-curating Enable Makeathon a three month long initiative  to building affordable assistive devices for the physically disabled in rural India in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva. Association for people for people with disability and IoTBLR, it is now furthering its efforts to build products and services for the disability sector. As a certified FabLab and a hub for makers, WP hosted the very first Mini Maker Faire in India in association with NASSCOM under the licence from Maker Media Inc. in 2015. This year WP is proud proud to present the second edition of the Bengaluru Mini Maker Faire in collaboration with BMRCL on 23rd October at Rangoli Metro Art Centre after a successful edition of Delhi Mini Maker Faire earlier this year, WP is committed to ‘Responsible Innovation’ and is headed to democratize and put the power of innovation in every hand!

India has over the last decade seen a phenomenal outburst of makers mushrooming across the country. The community has been growing as a ‘voluntary movement’, however it has garnered support rom institutions, independent organisations and corporates who understand the value and help build a strong ecosystem for its sustenance.
One that started out as love for exploring varied topics of interest, materials, learning new skills , ‘making’ became the quintessential trait for progressive and disruptive innovators. This has been the global trend. However, India is paving its own way and pace given the challenges and scale.

The bright side of it all is that maker patrons understand that ‘making’ in the past was the order of the day in India where a strong history of artisans to scientists have been contributing to the maker culture. It is now that we have woken up to these technologies and evolving with trending technologies to innovate for the future. It is becoming more and more important and relevant for agencies such as maker-spaces and alike to play interlocutors to advocate a hybrid model combining traditional techniques and modern making. The way the movement is encouraged to stay grounded and sustainable.