Fab Lab Seoul

Think it. Make it. Share it.

116-4 Jangsa-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Fab Lab Mobile workshop Coworking space

Space size 210 m²

Opened in March 2010

Structure type Private NGO

Explored in October 2017


Fab Lab Seoul fabricates the Maker Movement In Korea. Opened first in Korea by TIDE Institute, this latter is a non-profit organization disseminating Maker Movement and Entrepreneurship in Hardware. You can access to the tools, the knowledge, education and innovation.

Social networks

Main interests

Fashion & textile Technology - machines & tools Social initiatives Community Entrepreneurship Robotics Education Energy & environment Electronics Design Clothing & accessories

This workshop is great for:

Artists Craftsmen Entrepreneurs General public Large companies Students

The closest workshops nearby are:

  • Seoul innovation fablab

Interview & guided tour

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

Our workshop

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

Fab Lab Seoul is ideally located on the fifth floor of the historic SeunSangga complex. Filled with traditional art and crafts shops, you’ll be able to buy almost anything to develop your maker project on a 5-minute walk.

Opened in 2010 by the hardware accelerator Tide Institute, Fab Lab Seoul was the 1st Korean Fab Lab. Today, more than 80 makerspaces are spread around Korea, 70 owned by the government itself.

In spite of the competition, Fab Lab Seoul stands out thanks to its experience and ecosystem.

Ko San created the lab to spread the maker movement at the national but also international scale. Today present in Seoul, Jeju Island and Sowon (start-up self-making place), the Fab Lab works with the government to

• replace all the South Korean schools’ computer labs by makerspaces,

• and to promote digital fabrication in developing countries via the K-Lab program. Thereby, a Fab Lab in Myanmar was launched last year.

Open to anyone, Fab Lab Seoul aims to create solution makers thanks to education (classes and workshops) and the creation of maker content (Fab Academy, Make-a-thons, ..).

In the lab, several projects are ongoing such as Fab City furniture or a smart watch for blind people, Dotincorp.

As Fab Lab Seoul’s motto is to be open to anyone, the users profile is very diverse. From 400 to 500 people step in the lab every week.

Parity is respected and at least 30% of the makers are students as their Universities aren’t fully equipped with state-of-the-art machines. 5% are professionals working in SeunSangga building, 20% join the lab with the intention to prototype their idea. The rest of it goes from curious people, moms, kids as retirees.

Most of the makers heard of Fab Lab Seoul from Facebook, TV Channels and word-of-mouth. Moreover, the popularity of Ko San, the founder of the lab, in South Korea drives more traffic into Fab Lab Séoul.

Usually, makers may step in the lab for different incentives:
- to participate to one of the many workshops offered by the lab,
- to develop one’s project,
- to be part of a Residency program: “Maker residency” or “Artist residency” (all the classes are for free but those latter have to volunteer for the lab by maintaining machines or organizing workshops),
- and/or to be part of the Fab Academy students (4 of them graduated this summer).

Created in 2013, Fab Lab Seoul was funded thanks to Tide Institute (10K$) and a 10K$ crowdfunding campaign.

As the space was already owned by Tide Institute, the money was mainly invested into two 3D printers, one laser cutter and salaries.

Thereby, Fab Lab Seoul is a department of Tide Institute, a private NGO.

Its main sources of annual income are the following:

• 500 K$ for makeathons

• 48 to 72 K$ for workshops

• 18 K$ for machine use

• 2400 $ for residency programs

• 70 K$ for Maker academy

The main annual cost sources are the following:

• 30 K$ for rent

• 120 K$ for salaries

• 12 K$ for electricity

• 10 K$ for maintainance

• 28.8 K$ for materials

In a close future, Fab Lab Seoul is going to be part of a national program to provide makerspaces to all the Korea schools. This year, a 10-makerspace pilot is ongoing and next year, the pilot will be scaled.

In parallel, the K-Lab program will be expanded in other developing countries. After Myanmar, Fab Lab Seoul might build a lab in Mongolia next year.

One of the key challenge of the lab is to raise the population’s awareness regarding the maker movement.

At Tide Institute, the hardware accelerator, 35 employees work full-time. 4 of them are fully dedicated to Fab Lab Seoul. In the small team, one is in charge of the administration, partnerships and public relations, 2 are instructors and 1 deals with “make-athons”.

A big part of Fab Lab Seoul’s daily activities relates to monthly workshops such as:

• How to use basic equipment (3D printer and laser cutter)

• Themes workshops to learn how to use CNC and laser cutter by making a product: skateboard, drone, lamp, …

• Fab Teen workshops: 3 weeks to make a prototype for 12 to 20 year-old kids

• Fab Tist workshops animated by an artist

• Fab City workshops and Maker Academy (simplified Fab Academy lasting 1 month), supported by the government

The cash cow activity of the lab is “Make-a-thons”. Organized for Universities, companies or the government to promote digital fabrication, prototyping or find talents, the lab animates around 15 of them a year for 30K$ each.

Moreover, Fab Lab Seoul launched its own Fab Truck, half showroom, half making room, which is used for events and rented to other organizations.

Key partnerships have been set up so far:

• with Seoul City which finance the Maker Academy and Fab City workshops as well as the K-Lab program (500K$/year),

• and with a few Universities to foster internships and develop programming classes.

At Fab Lab Seoul, documentation is not compulsory.

Regarding workshops and events, curriculums are documented internally and the team communicates on those latter via facebook and media channels.

As part of Fab Academy projects, they are followed on this website.

As most of the labs, instructors draw their inspiration from instructables.

Fab Lab Seoul is ideally located on the fifth floor of the historic SeunSangga complex. Filled with traditional art and crafts shops, you’ll be able to buy almost anything to develop your maker project on a 5-minute walk.

Opened in 2010 by the hardware accelerator Tide Institute, Fab Lab Seoul was the 1st Korean Fab Lab. Today, more than 80 makerspaces are spread around Korea, 70 owned by the government itself.

In spite of the competition, Fab Lab Seoul stands out thanks to its experience and ecosystem.

Ko San created the lab to spread the maker movement at the national but also international scale. Today present in Seoul, Jeju Island and Sowon (start-up self-making place), the Fab Lab works with the government to

• replace all the South Korean schools’ computer labs by makerspaces,

• and to promote digital fabrication in developing countries via the K-Lab program. Thereby, a Fab Lab in Myanmar was launched last year.

Open to anyone, Fab Lab Seoul aims to create solution makers thanks to education (classes and workshops) and the creation of maker content (Fab Academy, Make-a-thons, ..).

In the lab, several projects are ongoing such as Fab City furniture or a smart watch for blind people, Dotincorp.

As Fab Lab Seoul’s motto is to be open to anyone, the users profile is very diverse. From 400 to 500 people step in the lab every week.

Parity is respected and at least 30% of the makers are students as their Universities aren’t fully equipped with state-of-the-art machines. 5% are professionals working in SeunSangga building, 20% join the lab with the intention to prototype their idea. The rest of it goes from curious people, moms, kids as retirees.

Most of the makers heard of Fab Lab Seoul from Facebook, TV Channels and word-of-mouth. Moreover, the popularity of Ko San, the founder of the lab, in South Korea drives more traffic into Fab Lab Séoul.

Usually, makers may step in the lab for different incentives:
- to participate to one of the many workshops offered by the lab,
- to develop one’s project,
- to be part of a Residency program: “Maker residency” or “Artist residency” (all the classes are for free but those latter have to volunteer for the lab by maintaining machines or organizing workshops),
- and/or to be part of the Fab Academy students (4 of them graduated this summer).

Created in 2013, Fab Lab Seoul was funded thanks to Tide Institute (10K$) and a 10K$ crowdfunding campaign.

As the space was already owned by Tide Institute, the money was mainly invested into two 3D printers, one laser cutter and salaries.

Thereby, Fab Lab Seoul is a department of Tide Institute, a private NGO.

Its main sources of annual income are the following:

• 500 K$ for makeathons

• 48 to 72 K$ for workshops

• 18 K$ for machine use

• 2400 $ for residency programs

• 70 K$ for Maker academy

The main annual cost sources are the following:

• 30 K$ for rent

• 120 K$ for salaries

• 12 K$ for electricity

• 10 K$ for maintainance

• 28.8 K$ for materials

In a close future, Fab Lab Seoul is going to be part of a national program to provide makerspaces to all the Korea schools. This year, a 10-makerspace pilot is ongoing and next year, the pilot will be scaled.

In parallel, the K-Lab program will be expanded in other developing countries. After Myanmar, Fab Lab Seoul might build a lab in Mongolia next year.

One of the key challenge of the lab is to raise the population’s awareness regarding the maker movement.

At Tide Institute, the hardware accelerator, 35 employees work full-time. 4 of them are fully dedicated to Fab Lab Seoul. In the small team, one is in charge of the administration, partnerships and public relations, 2 are instructors and 1 deals with “make-athons”.

A big part of Fab Lab Seoul’s daily activities relates to monthly workshops such as:

• How to use basic equipment (3D printer and laser cutter)

• Themes workshops to learn how to use CNC and laser cutter by making a product: skateboard, drone, lamp, …

• Fab Teen workshops: 3 weeks to make a prototype for 12 to 20 year-old kids

• Fab Tist workshops animated by an artist

• Fab City workshops and Maker Academy (simplified Fab Academy lasting 1 month), supported by the government

The cash cow activity of the lab is “Make-a-thons”. Organized for Universities, companies or the government to promote digital fabrication, prototyping or find talents, the lab animates around 15 of them a year for 30K$ each.

Moreover, Fab Lab Seoul launched its own Fab Truck, half showroom, half making room, which is used for events and rented to other organizations.

Key partnerships have been set up so far:

• with Seoul City which finance the Maker Academy and Fab City workshops as well as the K-Lab program (500K$/year),

• and with a few Universities to foster internships and develop programming classes.

At Fab Lab Seoul, documentation is not compulsory.

Regarding workshops and events, curriculums are documented internally and the team communicates on those latter via facebook and media channels.

As part of Fab Academy projects, they are followed on this website.

As most of the labs, instructors draw their inspiration from instructables.

Technologies & processes available

3D printing CNC milling Electronics Laser cutting Vinyl cutting Wood working tools Traditional tools

Our best practices

The inspiring things we do here to run our collaborative space

Fab Truck

What is it?

Fablab Séoul created its own Mobile fablab, half show-room half maker room.

In concrete terms?

They use it to animate their own events such as make-a-thons and their partners’ events.

Why it’s interesting?

It’s interesting for Fablab Seoul for 3 main reasons

• It’s a good way to promote the maker movement beyond the lab’s walls.

• During events such as make-a-thons, all the tools and equipments are available inside the truck itself.

• By renting it to their partners who need to animate their own events and promote digital fabrication, Fablab Seoul can generate revenues.

Regarding external organisations, it’s a good and simple way to promote digital fabrication toward their own audience.


Our makers projects

Get inspired by the DIY projects of our team & members

Making DIY cosplay costumes

What’s the project’s story?

Viktor, both actor and maker used to to give foam workshops to kids in Croatia. Arrived 2 years ago in Korea, he started to create Cosplay costumes for his friends, artists, or himself.

From Halloween to Halo costumes, it can take him between 1 month to 1 year to design et make them.

How does he interact with the workshop?

Maker resident at Fab Lab Seoul, Viktor uses most of the lab’s machines and equipment, stores his costumes and collaborates with other foreigner makers from the lab.

The very specific environment of the lab is very useful for him to find easily cheap equipment.


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