Fab Lab

Fab(rication) Lab(oratory) Siegen is an open, interdisciplinary workshop, community hub and lab which focuses on collaborative work and experimentation with (digital) fabrication. It is meant to help people – no matter their background, expertise, job or education – with planning and fabricating (almost) anything. The most important aspects of a Fab Lab are community, open exchange and sharing knowledge. However, we also have machines for digital fabrication (such as CNC mills or 3D printers), hand and power tools, a sewing machine as well as materials and parts to offer. World wide, there are hundreds of Fab Labs – each of them with distinct communities and projects which range from 3D printing buildings to the hacking of old knitting machines up to open source DIY prosthetics (as well as lots of new business models, startups and industry collaboration). This “Maker Culture” seems to be spreading and is increasingly covered in mass media as well. It will be quite interesting to see where things are headed. Will we all produce commodities and other items with digital fabrication devices on site in the future? What social, political and economical consequences derive from such developments? How will we adapt the educational system? What is the role of digital, distributed (and resilient?) fabrication for appropriate and sustainable socio-technical innovation? Fab Lab Siegen is a hub for everyone interested in investigating, exploring, making or hacking anything related to such questions collaboratively.