Fab Lab Amsterdam

Makerspace for social innovation & craftsmanship

Waag Society, 4, Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Fab Lab Makerspace

Space size 150 m²

Opened in June 2008

Structure type Waag Society (non-profit org.)

Explored in March 2016


Fab Lab Amsterdam (Waag Society initiative) gives you the chance to experiment with digital fabrication, learn and share your experiences with others!

Main interests

Fashion & textile Technology - machines & tools Sports & outdoors Community Entrepreneurship Robotics Games & scale modelling Music & sound devices Health & well-being Education Energy & environment Electronics Design Clothing & accessories Science & biology Art & culture Recycling & upcycling Food Agriculture Self-sufficiency

This workshop is great for:

Every single person & organisation!

The closest workshops nearby are:

  • Zb45 makerspace
  • Technologia incognita amsterdam
  • Lag amsterdam
  • Fablab groene hart
  • Kaasfabriek

Interview & guided tour

Meet someone from the team & discover the space by yourself!

Our workshop

Learn more about our space, members, machines & services!

“Don’t take the world as it is.” Since 1994, Waag Society foundation has been an institute mixing technology, art, education and social good, giving people access to technologies. And the Fab Lab was another way to follow their mission.

It started as a project in 2007 at Pakhuis de Zwijger and joined the fondation’s building after the Fab6 conference in 2008 (the first FabConference outside MIT, in Boston). Meanwhile, Alex Schaub (the first fabmanager) completed the FabAcademy program to learn to use all the technologies. It was both meant for their own research/projects and the general public (artists, researchers, designers, kids, students, teachers, creative people, etc.).

In their eyes, the Fab Lab is a great tool to work at the intersection between craftsmanship heritage and technologies, to keep them alive and spread both through digital fabrication. “Like Alex’s metal work, our health and care projects, the artsy side of Waag Society, let’s mix everything and make it accessible!”

Today, “the main aim is still the same, but the social impact is wider than we thought, with empowering others, giving the technologies accessible, for whatever project and public.”

According to Cecilia Raspanti and Emma Pareschi (the two fabmanagers), those who come to use the Fab Lab are “people who want to make a difference, to do something”. Both pros (artists, architects, makers, designers, tinkerers, biotechnologists, electronics, engineers) and hobbyists. On the learning side, it’s mostly kids, teachers and students (graduated profiles mostly).

Fab Lab Amsterdam is in the middle of the city within a castle (even if not many people know there’s a Fab Lab inside). People tend to discover it through Google, blogs, projects documentation and local meetups.

“They come here looking for a place where they can tinker, access technologies, find inspirations, learn new things, meet a community. Even us, we all need an environment to bounce ideas, influencing us without knowing it. The projects, objects you see, the small chats, the comments on each other projects. Some people are coming every week making a very open and broad range of stuffs.”

But are getting involved in the Fab Lab? As an example, Cecilia came as a user, did an internship and now work at Waag. 2 or 3 times a week, the team and users cook together and share a lunch in the lab. “They’re always willing to help and often leave us some presents when they’re making something.”

To create Fab Lab Amsterdam, Waag Society applied for European Union fundings on social, environmental and community projects. A 50.000-euro grant helped them to pay for the human cost (4 people approx.) and some machines. Some resources came from the Fab6 conferences. Waag got the building as a rent from the City Hall through a call-to-projects 20 years ago.

Today, the Fab Lab is a 3-people team + 3 interns, and relies on Waag Society resources (finances, communication). While 10-15 people on every Open Day, the busiest months are May, June and December. The main income sources are the projects, national fundings, workshops and hour-based use of machines. Total yearly budget? 75.000 euros, excluding projects work. They’ll soon move the Open Days to the weekends and set up the Textile Lab on the castle last floor.

“I think smiles and community are our biggest indicators: the fact that people come back, being happy, sharing, starting to work with each other, with us, outside of the lab, finding new ideas and things to do, so that it impacts the other aspects of their life. See them showing up at our events, starting to teach and to share their experience.” It’s been 9 years that Fab Lab Amsterdam opened!

Waag Society is a wide institute, spread in several team and labs (some labs are physical, others conceptual): creative learning, creative care, future Internet, future heritage, the make team with the open design and wet lab (biotech)! All of them are to be found there.

Regarding the Fab Lab activity, newbies show up on Open Days (happening several times a week), during which consultancies are free and encouraged. “So if they’re wondering and looking for solutions for their projects, we just sit down and chat.” Here, you never pay for the space, only for the machine use. And you get a 50% voucher if you document.

You’ll find improvised workshops happening all the time (the team is more interested in transmitting the content in the lab’s everyday life than through structured workshops). However, they run interesting formats like FabSchool (8-week program, meant for kids between 9 and 11), Teacher Maker Camp (1-week program, teach the teachers to bring that tools and mindset to their world), the FabAcademy (6-month program, learn how to make almost anything), hackathons and open source workshops. All events are to be found there.

We often remind members to document their stuffs, but some users are doing it as a habit. We hope that with the new system (50% discount on the hour-based machine use price if you document), people will document more than they do at the moment.”

According to Cecilia and Emma, “the processes and technics are the most important thing. Not only the file, but how do you got to that point? We need to know your mistakes, how you fixed the mistakes, and how to improve from the bases you created, the reasons you decided to do things that way.”

You can start with the “How to Document” section on the Fab Lab’s website. It provides a manual and advices like “document your work on Openthings.wiki”, “start documenting right away”, “what to describe?” and “how to be featured on their website”. To start the platform, they’ve uploaded 8-9 years of Waag documented projects..!

“We found out that documentation is a difficult topic to address. People should start as they’re doing the project.” Emma even built a documentation wallstand two years ago (see the pictures above). For their personal use, they go a lot on Hackaday and the FabAcademy documentation.

“Don’t take the world as it is.” Since 1994, Waag Society foundation has been an institute mixing technology, art, education and social good, giving people access to technologies. And the Fab Lab was another way to follow their mission.

It started as a project in 2007 at Pakhuis de Zwijger and joined the fondation’s building after the Fab6 conference in 2008 (the first FabConference outside MIT, in Boston). Meanwhile, Alex Schaub (the first fabmanager) completed the FabAcademy program to learn to use all the technologies. It was both meant for their own research/projects and the general public (artists, researchers, designers, kids, students, teachers, creative people, etc.).

In their eyes, the Fab Lab is a great tool to work at the intersection between craftsmanship heritage and technologies, to keep them alive and spread both through digital fabrication. “Like Alex’s metal work, our health and care projects, the artsy side of Waag Society, let’s mix everything and make it accessible!”

Today, “the main aim is still the same, but the social impact is wider than we thought, with empowering others, giving the technologies accessible, for whatever project and public.”

According to Cecilia Raspanti and Emma Pareschi (the two fabmanagers), those who come to use the Fab Lab are “people who want to make a difference, to do something”. Both pros (artists, architects, makers, designers, tinkerers, biotechnologists, electronics, engineers) and hobbyists. On the learning side, it’s mostly kids, teachers and students (graduated profiles mostly).

Fab Lab Amsterdam is in the middle of the city within a castle (even if not many people know there’s a Fab Lab inside). People tend to discover it through Google, blogs, projects documentation and local meetups.

“They come here looking for a place where they can tinker, access technologies, find inspirations, learn new things, meet a community. Even us, we all need an environment to bounce ideas, influencing us without knowing it. The projects, objects you see, the small chats, the comments on each other projects. Some people are coming every week making a very open and broad range of stuffs.”

But are getting involved in the Fab Lab? As an example, Cecilia came as a user, did an internship and now work at Waag. 2 or 3 times a week, the team and users cook together and share a lunch in the lab. “They’re always willing to help and often leave us some presents when they’re making something.”

To create Fab Lab Amsterdam, Waag Society applied for European Union fundings on social, environmental and community projects. A 50.000-euro grant helped them to pay for the human cost (4 people approx.) and some machines. Some resources came from the Fab6 conferences. Waag got the building as a rent from the City Hall through a call-to-projects 20 years ago.

Today, the Fab Lab is a 3-people team + 3 interns, and relies on Waag Society resources (finances, communication). While 10-15 people on every Open Day, the busiest months are May, June and December. The main income sources are the projects, national fundings, workshops and hour-based use of machines. Total yearly budget? 75.000 euros, excluding projects work. They’ll soon move the Open Days to the weekends and set up the Textile Lab on the castle last floor.

“I think smiles and community are our biggest indicators: the fact that people come back, being happy, sharing, starting to work with each other, with us, outside of the lab, finding new ideas and things to do, so that it impacts the other aspects of their life. See them showing up at our events, starting to teach and to share their experience.” It’s been 9 years that Fab Lab Amsterdam opened!

Waag Society is a wide institute, spread in several team and labs (some labs are physical, others conceptual): creative learning, creative care, future Internet, future heritage, the make team with the open design and wet lab (biotech)! All of them are to be found there.

Regarding the Fab Lab activity, newbies show up on Open Days (happening several times a week), during which consultancies are free and encouraged. “So if they’re wondering and looking for solutions for their projects, we just sit down and chat.” Here, you never pay for the space, only for the machine use. And you get a 50% voucher if you document.

You’ll find improvised workshops happening all the time (the team is more interested in transmitting the content in the lab’s everyday life than through structured workshops). However, they run interesting formats like FabSchool (8-week program, meant for kids between 9 and 11), Teacher Maker Camp (1-week program, teach the teachers to bring that tools and mindset to their world), the FabAcademy (6-month program, learn how to make almost anything), hackathons and open source workshops. All events are to be found there.

We often remind members to document their stuffs, but some users are doing it as a habit. We hope that with the new system (50% discount on the hour-based machine use price if you document), people will document more than they do at the moment.”

According to Cecilia and Emma, “the processes and technics are the most important thing. Not only the file, but how do you got to that point? We need to know your mistakes, how you fixed the mistakes, and how to improve from the bases you created, the reasons you decided to do things that way.”

You can start with the “How to Document” section on the Fab Lab’s website. It provides a manual and advices like “document your work on Openthings.wiki”, “start documenting right away”, “what to describe?” and “how to be featured on their website”. To start the platform, they’ve uploaded 8-9 years of Waag documented projects..!

“We found out that documentation is a difficult topic to address. People should start as they’re doing the project.” Emma even built a documentation wallstand two years ago (see the pictures above). For their personal use, they go a lot on Hackaday and the FabAcademy documentation.

Technologies & processes available

CNC milling Laboratory, biology & chemistry 3D printing Textile machines Electronics 3D scanning Laser cutting Casting & moulding Robotics Vinyl cutting Computing & softwares Wood working tools Music & sound devices

Services offered

Workshop memberships Open moments FabAcademy curriculum Fabricademy curriculum BioAcademy curriculum Space rental Classes & workshops Coworking space

Our best practices

The inspiring things we do here to run our collaborative space

Mixed team and worldwide collaborations

What is it?

Fablab Amsterdam is a great example of both gender diversity (in the team and the community) and world connection with others fablabs/institutions.

In concrete terms?

Two global observations can be made about the fablab movement: communities are mostly made of local people and men, and places tend to collaborate little with other countries. But every rule has its exceptions with Fablab Amsterdam being one of them. Waag Society is the explanation, with its enlarged teams and labs, and multiple European Union projects collaborations. One of the project (2009) was to help the creation of a lab in Jogjakarta (Indonesia), by transmitting their know-how and technologies, especially on low-cost prosthesis. Thanks to its pioneer reputation and unique facility, it seems to attract more the international community than the Dutch themselves.

Why it’s interesting?

The fablab network is a global community of people who want to collaborate and share knowledge. And Fablab Amsterdam is one of its greatest illustrations with its gender diversity, international community and word collaborations.


FabSchool & Teacher Maker Camp

What is it?

Among its many workshops and events, Fablab Amsterdam created FabSchool aimed at kids, and Teachers Maker Camp aimed at teachers community.

In concrete terms?

FabSchool is a 8-week program meant for kids between 9 and 11. They’ll learn how to use the fablab through coding, soldering or 3d printing. “But it’s more about the mindset!” Sessions are on Wednesday afternoons, 20 kids gather to make, helped by 4 instructors. The cost? Between 30 and 120 euros!

Teacher Maker Camp is different. Its mission is to teach teachers to see how they can bring some of the “fablab way” in their everyday class and transmit it to their students. 40 teachers gather there for one week, having the whole building to discover electronics, textile, programming, 3D printing or conferences.

Why it’s interesting?

FabSchool and Teacher Maker Camp are two great examples of programs adapting the fablab concept/space to a specific public. Fablabs are made for everyone. Think of a public not coming the lab yet, and build a program about it. Possibilities are unlimited!


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