During his time as CEO at Urban Farm Fermentory, Neil Spillane ran a collective of kitchens in East Bayside; this was his first experience running a quasi food hub. He ultimately realized the concept needed a full-time organization just to run the kitchens and coordinate collaborations. “That was the genesis for Fork Food Lab—a shared kitchen on steroids,” says Spillane.

Spillane and his partner, Eric Holstein, founded Fork Food Lab in July 2016 as a shared kitchen and tasting room. Located in Portland’s West Bayside neighborhood, Fork Food Lab is a community space that connects food makers with food lovers.

“We have 27 companies operating out of the incubator, the community forming is very tight and passionate, and our ticketed events have been selling out almost every time,” Spillane says. Fork Food Lab has hosted a wide range of events since opening, including a Friendsgiving feast, pop-up brunch, buyers market, and pig butchery class.

Fork Food Lab owners Neil Spillane and Eric Holstein 

“The community is very supportive of local food, there is always a pipeline of ambitious people looking to launch food businesses, and I was lucky enough to find a building close to downtown that was perfect,” Spillane says.

Fork’s member group is as diverse as there are types of carrots. Current members include specialty food producers, food trucks, bakeries, and catering companies. Between them, they produce products from kale chips to fried seafood to maple syrup and gluten-free bread. “It’s food with a story,” Spillane says. “That difference is huge in how diners are thinking about where to spend the cash.”

Apart from the commercial kitchen space, the tasting room has been another important factor in the Lab’s success. An event-driven flex space for members, as well as the community, to use, the tasting room has hosted pop-ups, private parties, classes, and marketplaces. Recently the Lab hosted a brunch in the tasting room; all four seatings were sold out. “The model is to use member products from Fork in all of the dishes,” Spillane says. “In this case, it was 10 different companies represented on the menu, with a couple even helping out on the line in the kitchen.

Fork Food Lab event 

Spillane has lived in Portland for five years now and says he wouldn’t want to live anywhere else (a common theme amongst Portlanders). When he was thinking about launching this concept, he knew it would be buoyed by the strong food industry in the area.

“I have grown up hearing people say the pace of life is slower here in Maine, and that is true,” says Spillane. “What I’ve come to learn is that the time people spend on work relative to play is different here and in New England as a whole. People really like to enrich their time on Earth here, and shape their behavior and work habits to match those ideals.”

Neil Spillane – Founder/CEO at Fork Food Lab
Portland, Maine
Website
Facebook
Instagram

Images courtesy Fork Food Lab

The post Put A Fork (Food Lab) In It appeared first on Take Magazine.

Soto is a person who needs to know more: how it works, how it can be fun, beautiful, useful, how it can help. He does all the heavy lifting to show us the creative potential of cutting-edge technology. “I have an experimental new media practice,” he says. “My studio is similar to a maker space with tools ranging from a hammer to custom micro-controllers. In short, I experiment with art and technology and I love innovation. I’m always pushing myself to do something new in each project. I love to create an idea for an art installation that I don’t know how to implement. Then I have to figure it out.”

Balam Soto | Photography by Jade Soto

Balam Soto made his way to New England quite a few years ago from Guatemala. “I am a Mayan,” he explains. “I was married in Guatemala 21 years ago to my wife, Shelli, who is from Connecticut, and so 20 years ago we moved to Wethersfield. We then moved to Hartford 12 years ago because of the artist community and diversity, which we love.” Although he calls the local arts community he’s part of “lively,” he still finds time to have an impressive list of international exhibitions as well.

Soto’s artwork introduces new, interesting, and unique interpretations of technology as an artistic medium. Most hit three out of the five senses; doubtless he’s working on taste and smell, too. They’re objects that make you think (how?!), and are also genuine kinetic sculpture, with audio, visual, and tactile cues that show how energy moves through space. Infinitely approachable, you can directly project yourself into some of his works. He designed a performance piece of wearable, Theremin-esque body suits that manipulate sound and digital animation in response to the individual’s moves. A more recent work, Exp.Inst.Wood, is an instrument of sorts, with a number of wooden knobs and upright acrylic tubes that are programmed to react loudly, but tonally and colorfully, when touched. Witnesses of his work are the potential energy; the observer becomes catalyst. We can interact, and, in doing so, become projectors.

As one would suspect, Soto is an artist and entrepreneur who keeps active. Together with his partner, Shelli McMillen Soto, he founded an online company that creates and sells DIY kits called Open Wire Lab. The builds boost the maker movement, and embrace STEAM: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, together with art. In addition, Soto has led numerous community youth projects. 2017 is shaping up to be an especially creative time for him: he’s been selected for the American Arts Incubator program by ZERO1: The Art and Technology Network, and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), and will go to Guatemala for a month in 2017 to implement an arts and technology project. You can see some of his work coming up at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of “Teknopolis,” at the end of February 2017.

Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo
Top image photography by Jade Soto

The post The Fusion of Lo-Tech and Hi-Tech appeared first on Take Magazine.

C o n n e c t i c u t

NESIT – Meriden
Hackerspace for information technology, workspace for woodworking, metalworking, 3D printing.

MakeHaven – New Haven
Workspace and equipment, with mechanics, electronics, crafts, art, design, programming, cooking, biology, chemistry, fabrication, metalworking, and woodworking.

Fairfield County Makers Guild – Norwalk
Community workshop and fabrication studio. 3D modeling and printing, electronics workbench, metalworking, woodworking.

CT Hackerspace – Watertown
Workspace and equipment for 3D modeling and printing, electronics workbench, metalworking, woodworking, kitchen.

MakeHartford – Hartford
Fabrication lab, woodshop, metalshop, electronics lab. Classes, private studios.

M a i n e

Open Bench Project – Portland
Wood shop, metal shop, 3D studio, ”hack lab.”

Chase’s Garage – York
Artist studios, seasonal gallery, year-round ceramics and printmaking facilities.

A Gathering of Stitches – Portland
Workspace for fiber and textiles artists, retreats, equipment rentals, studio space, workshops.

FabLab – Biddeford
Fabrication laboratory with digital tools, workshops, and classes.

M a s s a c h u s e t t s

Lowell Makes – Lowell
Classes, rapid prototyping, 3D printers, CNC mills, woodshop and metal shop.

New Vestures – Lowell
Fashion maker space with classes. Textile and yarn arts.  

Einstein’s Workshop – Burlington
Family friendly, drop-in makerspace. Classes in science, technology, engineering, math. Fabrication services available.

Shire City Sanctuary – Pittsfield
Workshops and classes, gallery space, screen printing shop, sewing lab, commercial kitchen, studios, meeting space, event space, and cyber office.

Boston Makers – Boston
Classes and workstations for 3D printing, drawing, crafts, soldering, CNC routers, laser cutting, vinyl milling, small fabrication, tools, computer stations.

Beehive Sewing Studio – Northampton
Shared pay-as-you-go sewing studio and workspace for seamstresses, fiber artists, and fabric artisans. Classes, workshops.

danger!awesome – Cambridge
Retail fabrication studio offering classes and training in design, fabrication machines, 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC routers, vinyl cutters.

Cambridge Hackspace – Cambridge
Laser cutter, CNC, 3D printer, soldering tools, knitting and sewing machines, woodwork and hand tools.

Technocopia – Worcester
Workspace and classes. Routers, laser cutter, 3D printers, drill press, woodworking tools, soldering, microcontroller development, analog electronics development, sewing machines.

Artisan’s Asylum – Somerville
Fabrication center with classes. 3D printer, laser cutter, vinyl cutter, CAD/CAM software, woodshop, metal shop, machine shop, electronics, jewelry shop, bike shop, screen printing shop, fiber arts.

Framingham Makerspace – Framingham
Classes, activities, and events. Metal shop, woodshop, welding shop, electronics, multi-purpose area, ceramics, IT and computer programming.

Make-It Springfield
Classes in cooking, gardening, language, sewing, fiber arts, UAVs, arduino coding, bike repair, writing and 3-D printing. Open drop-in hours available.

N e w  H a m p s h i r e

makeitlabs – Nashua
Metalworking, welding, machining, automotive, carpentry, electronics, laser cutting, 3D printing, programming.

Port City Makerspace – Portsmouth
Metalworking, machining, embroidery, woodworking, electronics, blacksmithing, 3-axis machines, automotive, bicycles.

Make It So – Keene
Tool-lending library, woodworking shop, work tables, ceramics, electronics, events.

R h o d e  I s l a n d

The Wurks – Providence
Collaborative artists’ community with gallery space and studios, plus woodworking, metalworking, and printmaking.

We’re Better Off – Providence
“Digital free zone” with “creative” gym, analog cameras, typewriters.

Studio 55 – East Providence
Micro-creative fabrication space used by DIY makers, hackers, artists.

TinkerBristol – Bristol
Affordable access to shared space, 3D printers, rapid prototyping equipment, machines, and technologies, plus business development services.

FabNewport – Newport
Small-scale community workshop with classes. Computer lab, design and manufacturing software, 3D printer, laser cutter, vinyl cutter, electronic components, hand and power tools.

Ocean State Maker Mill – Pawtucket
Workspace and classes, 3D printing, soldering, technology-focused.

V e r m o n t

Generator – Burlington
Artist studios, classes. Business incubator with lasercutter, 3D printer, 4-axis mill, vinyl cutter, metal and wood workshops, hand tools, microelectronics station.

Laboratory B – Burlington
Hackerspace and meet-up space with microelectronics workbench, wi-fi access, desks, workbenches, tea station, magic bins, storage area, virtual machine server.

Top photo courtesy Generator Maker Space VT

THIS PIECE FIRST APPEARED OUR FEB/MARCH 2016 PRINT ISSUE AVAILABLE HERE

*updated 9.13.2016 to reflect new information

The post Get a Hobby! DIY at these New England Makerspaces appeared first on Take Magazine.

Artists and makers all over the world often struggle with one challenge – access to adequate materials and machinery. Generator, downtown Burlington’s own maker space, seeks to remedy this problem by providing artists, fabricators and educators access to their Laser Cutter, 3D printer, CNC router, welding shop, wood shop, jewelry shop, and electronics station for a low membership fee. The space’s co-op culture and strong orientation towards entrepreneurship ensures that its 152 members (utilizing 18 studio spaces) are well equipped and ready to make.

Iona Fox | Photo courtesy Generator website

According to the executive of Generator, Lars Hasselblad, the space exists in a historically important time for the creative economy of New England, “I would situate Generator as part of a revival in New England’s innate ingenuity, problem solving and fabrication prowess. The industry that grew here in the 19th Century was largely gutted in the 70s and 80s and with the introduction of lower cost fabrication tools, there’s a really exciting renaissance happening not just across New England, but across the US.”

In addition to providing makers and artists access to their equipment and programs, Generator offers a Makers-in-Residence program. This competitive, community-supported effort provides, “…a studio space and stipend to an artist, maker or designer with the goal of advancing ideas, projects and new products that demonstrate the power and potential of maker spaces.” One of the recent Makers-in-Residence, Iona Fox, used her time at Generator to learn how to use the laser cutter as a way to bring new dimensions to her book covers. By the end of her residency, she had three completed prototypes.

Photo courtesy Generator

Since its inception and well into its incubation stage, Generator has called Main street its home. However, due to some long put-off repairs to their city-owned property, and their general need to expand, the maker space will be moving to Pine Street in Burlington. According to Lars, this move signifies, “…a significant investment in the creative economy of that part of the city which is zoned light industrial. It’s inhabited by the highest concentration of artists in Vermont and it’s a ripe area for providing resources to independent fabricators, increasing the level of access to tools, talent and ultimately financial capital.”

Generator is a maker space currently situated in downtown Burlington, Vermont. Makers and artists who want to utilize Generator’s facilities can apply for membership anytime. Be sure to follow Generator on Twitter and Facebook for updates about their move and many many makers.

Top photo courtesy Generator

The post The Third Industrial Revolution appeared first on Take Magazine.