GÖRA makerspace

Cl. 47 #40-24, Medellín, Antioquia

Makerspace

Space size 220 m²

Opened in April 2016

Structure type Sole Proprietorship

Explored in July 2018


It's home of a community of diverse individuals who build what they imagine supported by the equipment and knowledge necessary to develop their ideas.

Social networks

Main interests

Fashion & textile Technology - machines & tools Community Entrepreneurship Robotics Music & sound devices Industry & innovation Hacking Education Design Clothing & accessories Photography Art & culture Web development Architecture Mobile development Drones & aeronautics

This workshop is great for:

Craftsmen Artists Schools & universities Small & medium businesses Entrepreneurs Hobbyist makers Non-profit organisations Teachers Students

Join our community during a workshop and for longer !

We organize every week clubs and workshops opened to everyone to meet inspiring and open-minded people, having fun while learning new skills such as clay, modeling, carpentry, robotics, arduino.

To us, a makerspace and the maker movement, are about much more than just a room full of tools and machinery. It represents an alternative. We see the maker movement as the new Declaration of Independence. However, this declaration does not seek liberation from any imperial nation, it seeks only to break the chains that currently limit our creativity. For we have always been free, and always will be, no matter where we live. The maker movement is about acknowledging that very freedom in a time where it has never been more accessible. Makerspaces are the platforms from which this freedom can be realized, If the internet democratized access to information, makerspaces will democratize the capacity to produce. From a makerspace we can truly leverage our combined human knowledge and experiences and transform them into useful solutions and innovations.

To make is to share, every time you make something you leave a piece of yourself in that which you created. There is no greater gift to give than this, nor any greater gift to receive.

Medellín is a vibrant city full of creativity and passion. Help us unlock this city’s massive potential and show the world what people can accomplish when they come together for a common goal!

We are looking for volunteers to help us to make this dream possible and to grow it so don’t hesitate to knock at our doors, you will be more than welcome! :-)

Our workshop

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

Every founder has a turning point where they decide to dedicate their energy and money to create a makerspace. For Thomas King, an American from Colorado, it was not a special event nor a meeting but a progressive awareness that the society in which he was raised alienates people. This evidence raised during his studies in international relationships to become a diplomatic. Against all expectations, he moved to Medellin to start from scratch and to find his own path. Passionate about 3D printing, he detected in this technology an amazing continuity of what Internet does : empowering anyone to make them produce something meaningful with all the knowledge accessible in the web. His failed attempt to create a 3D printing business, the makers we met and his researches on Internet made him realize that he should have seen bigger, with more machines, and with an essential element : a community. He found in the makerspace philosophy what he was looking for since many years.

The Göra place you can discover today is the result of a lot of 4 people (Thomas, Mauricio, David and Fernando) energy and sacrifices to reach a clear target : creating an independent space where the common social rules are banished to create their own culture where anyone can get inspiration from people, develop a critical mindset and make something meaningful with their life without limits. Inspired by Noisebridge harckerspace in San Francisco, they aim to be excellent. If the target is stated, the means are free as long as they rely on pleasure, fun, sharing and family spirit. If the name, Göra (maker in Swedish) sounds original to you, wait to see the walls inside the building : their creativity and positive mindset is everywhere with amazing graffitis and opened spaces which contribute to the good vibes of the place.

To answer their community needs and reach a larger public, they will open a co-working space with a coffee shop and a store shop where people can enjoy an inspiring but quiet place close to the makerspace. The idea is to go further than traditional co-working space : users will find a place where they can design their ideas, prototype and sell them.

Thomas, Fernando and Emmanuel. This is the core and heart team of the place. 3 persons with 3 different backgrounds, stories, and skills: a perfect blend to run and develop the Göra Makerspace. With a family of entrepreneurs in Colorado (USA), Thomas, one of the founder, succeeded to create this space, 3 years after he got the first idea, with the help of 3 Colombians makers including Fernando who is still part of the team now. Emmanuel joined them recently to help them grow the space.

They have a clear organization depending on their skills and predilection activities. Thomas is the fabmanager, in charge of the strategic orientation, organization of the team and communication. Passionate about 3D printing, he also trains and supports people to use this technology in their projects or to build their own machine. Fernando is the artistic director and chief of operations. This self-made man developed his art talent in mural paintings and book illustrations during his studies and projects made for clients while learning how to repair bicycles as sustainable income. Now, the place benefits from his art, maker skills and machines. The space is full of art pieces and he teaches people about drawing, paintings, photography, and carpentry during workshops. Emmanuel, professor in architecture, in the perfect example of the complementary resources the space benefits from. Indeed, he is one of the users who rents a space for his activity. Because of the spirit of the space, these users are also involved as volunteers in the daily life of the space depending on their time and competencies. Emmanuel is so involved that he is considered as being part of the core team. Thanks to him the space has been rearranged and a new space for co-working is designed. He also works on a big project for Göra (cf project description below). David, one of the founders, who runs his own company, uses the space for free and also helps the team to develop their activities.

In practice, all the members are dealing with daily activities and they adapt their tasks to the demand. They lack resources to be more efficient but they are tied by strong values and a clear focus where art and technology are at the top.

People who come in Göra makerspace are interested by the machines but also by the social experience the space offers. Here they find a place where they can step back and develop their critical mindset, start asking questions about what surrounds them (culture, environment, community, job, …). It was the same feeling that Thomas experimented when he came to Colombia from Colorado (USA). Moving made him realize the good and bad sides of both cultures. Göra is for him an opportunity offered to people to create their own culture.

The community of users are mainly artists and entrepreneurs who find in the place the space, the machines and the community support they need for their activity. They also find a good balance between pleasure and work. The absence of codes (no suit, no tie, no control, …), the flexibility of the team and the family spirit are elements that made them stay. Parties (where artists painted the wall of the space, … ), diners, cine-club and Puchi, the dog - mascot, are also elements that strengthen the community. Every day you can find 20 persons working in the space, most of them are regular, paying a rent for a space or to use the machines.

Even if the doors are opened every day, it was hard to attract people in a city where the maker movement is just starting. It takes them between 3 and 6 months to convert people in users and they spend a lot of energy trying to explain the concept and potential of a makerspace. “It’s like explaining what is Coca-Cola to someone who never tasted it”. The situation of the place, in the center, doesn’t help: the district suffers from insecure reputation and the neighborhood doesn’t have the financial means to pay for the place. However, they found in the place “real people living real lives”, workshops, universities which create a grungy and open-minded atmosphere that fits with the space spirit. Artists came thanks to Fernando network and entrepreneurs came with the communication effort achieved by Thomas through events such as TedX and social networks. Some students from Emmanuel’s school are also coming for “conversatorios”, opened talks organized in Göra. Nevertheless, despite the attempts of Thomas, schools, and universities are not interested yet to collaborate with them. Their partners are essentially based on culture (with Casa Morada ) or art (with the foundation Divergente or Hotel gallery ) for campaigns or events.

Building a makerspace without investment was a challenge that the two first founders, Thomas and Mauricio, tackled. Their idea convinced 3 owners, met thanks to their network, who successively offered them a space for free during a limited period of time. This unstable situation enabled them to define their values, vision and to start to grow their community with social networks. The first machines they used were their own (3D printer and manual tools) but they looked for people with complementary skills and machines to join their team. They convinced 2 new funders to join them, an artist with mechanical machines and an electronic engineer interested in Drones and IoT. Their core team started to raise awareness about the maker potential in Medellin but they had to work apart to survive. Once the third owner asked them to leave, they decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign. In 3 months, they succeeded to raise 20 000 $ to rent their own place (70% of the budget), fixed administrative status (15%), buy new machines (10%) and furniture (5%, mainly donations).

After 2 years, the 2 funders and team members are not paid and their activity cover 90% of the running costs. Among them: machines rentals (20%), space rental (40%), workshops (10%), event organization for partners (15%) and design or production services for clients (15%). They decided to invest the incomes in the arrangement and extension of the space to develop their activity and services.

Memberships : - Day: 16.000 pesos - Week: 65.000 pesos - Month: 170.000 pesos

Every founder has a turning point where they decide to dedicate their energy and money to create a makerspace. For Thomas King, an American from Colorado, it was not a special event nor a meeting but a progressive awareness that the society in which he was raised alienates people. This evidence raised during his studies in international relationships to become a diplomatic. Against all expectations, he moved to Medellin to start from scratch and to find his own path. Passionate about 3D printing, he detected in this technology an amazing continuity of what Internet does : empowering anyone to make them produce something meaningful with all the knowledge accessible in the web. His failed attempt to create a 3D printing business, the makers we met and his researches on Internet made him realize that he should have seen bigger, with more machines, and with an essential element : a community. He found in the makerspace philosophy what he was looking for since many years.

The Göra place you can discover today is the result of a lot of 4 people (Thomas, Mauricio, David and Fernando) energy and sacrifices to reach a clear target : creating an independent space where the common social rules are banished to create their own culture where anyone can get inspiration from people, develop a critical mindset and make something meaningful with their life without limits. Inspired by Noisebridge harckerspace in San Francisco, they aim to be excellent. If the target is stated, the means are free as long as they rely on pleasure, fun, sharing and family spirit. If the name, Göra (maker in Swedish) sounds original to you, wait to see the walls inside the building : their creativity and positive mindset is everywhere with amazing graffitis and opened spaces which contribute to the good vibes of the place.

To answer their community needs and reach a larger public, they will open a co-working space with a coffee shop and a store shop where people can enjoy an inspiring but quiet place close to the makerspace. The idea is to go further than traditional co-working space : users will find a place where they can design their ideas, prototype and sell them.

Thomas, Fernando and Emmanuel. This is the core and heart team of the place. 3 persons with 3 different backgrounds, stories, and skills: a perfect blend to run and develop the Göra Makerspace. With a family of entrepreneurs in Colorado (USA), Thomas, one of the founder, succeeded to create this space, 3 years after he got the first idea, with the help of 3 Colombians makers including Fernando who is still part of the team now. Emmanuel joined them recently to help them grow the space.

They have a clear organization depending on their skills and predilection activities. Thomas is the fabmanager, in charge of the strategic orientation, organization of the team and communication. Passionate about 3D printing, he also trains and supports people to use this technology in their projects or to build their own machine. Fernando is the artistic director and chief of operations. This self-made man developed his art talent in mural paintings and book illustrations during his studies and projects made for clients while learning how to repair bicycles as sustainable income. Now, the place benefits from his art, maker skills and machines. The space is full of art pieces and he teaches people about drawing, paintings, photography, and carpentry during workshops. Emmanuel, professor in architecture, in the perfect example of the complementary resources the space benefits from. Indeed, he is one of the users who rents a space for his activity. Because of the spirit of the space, these users are also involved as volunteers in the daily life of the space depending on their time and competencies. Emmanuel is so involved that he is considered as being part of the core team. Thanks to him the space has been rearranged and a new space for co-working is designed. He also works on a big project for Göra (cf project description below). David, one of the founders, who runs his own company, uses the space for free and also helps the team to develop their activities.

In practice, all the members are dealing with daily activities and they adapt their tasks to the demand. They lack resources to be more efficient but they are tied by strong values and a clear focus where art and technology are at the top.

People who come in Göra makerspace are interested by the machines but also by the social experience the space offers. Here they find a place where they can step back and develop their critical mindset, start asking questions about what surrounds them (culture, environment, community, job, …). It was the same feeling that Thomas experimented when he came to Colombia from Colorado (USA). Moving made him realize the good and bad sides of both cultures. Göra is for him an opportunity offered to people to create their own culture.

The community of users are mainly artists and entrepreneurs who find in the place the space, the machines and the community support they need for their activity. They also find a good balance between pleasure and work. The absence of codes (no suit, no tie, no control, …), the flexibility of the team and the family spirit are elements that made them stay. Parties (where artists painted the wall of the space, … ), diners, cine-club and Puchi, the dog - mascot, are also elements that strengthen the community. Every day you can find 20 persons working in the space, most of them are regular, paying a rent for a space or to use the machines.

Even if the doors are opened every day, it was hard to attract people in a city where the maker movement is just starting. It takes them between 3 and 6 months to convert people in users and they spend a lot of energy trying to explain the concept and potential of a makerspace. “It’s like explaining what is Coca-Cola to someone who never tasted it”. The situation of the place, in the center, doesn’t help: the district suffers from insecure reputation and the neighborhood doesn’t have the financial means to pay for the place. However, they found in the place “real people living real lives”, workshops, universities which create a grungy and open-minded atmosphere that fits with the space spirit. Artists came thanks to Fernando network and entrepreneurs came with the communication effort achieved by Thomas through events such as TedX and social networks. Some students from Emmanuel’s school are also coming for “conversatorios”, opened talks organized in Göra. Nevertheless, despite the attempts of Thomas, schools, and universities are not interested yet to collaborate with them. Their partners are essentially based on culture (with Casa Morada ) or art (with the foundation Divergente or Hotel gallery ) for campaigns or events.

Building a makerspace without investment was a challenge that the two first founders, Thomas and Mauricio, tackled. Their idea convinced 3 owners, met thanks to their network, who successively offered them a space for free during a limited period of time. This unstable situation enabled them to define their values, vision and to start to grow their community with social networks. The first machines they used were their own (3D printer and manual tools) but they looked for people with complementary skills and machines to join their team. They convinced 2 new funders to join them, an artist with mechanical machines and an electronic engineer interested in Drones and IoT. Their core team started to raise awareness about the maker potential in Medellin but they had to work apart to survive. Once the third owner asked them to leave, they decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign. In 3 months, they succeeded to raise 20 000 $ to rent their own place (70% of the budget), fixed administrative status (15%), buy new machines (10%) and furniture (5%, mainly donations).

After 2 years, the 2 funders and team members are not paid and their activity cover 90% of the running costs. Among them: machines rentals (20%), space rental (40%), workshops (10%), event organization for partners (15%) and design or production services for clients (15%). They decided to invest the incomes in the arrangement and extension of the space to develop their activity and services.

Memberships : - Day: 16.000 pesos - Week: 65.000 pesos - Month: 170.000 pesos

Technologies & processes available

3D printing Computing & softwares Electronics Wood working tools Photo & video Printing, drawing & painting Textile machines Music & sound devices Web development Traditional tools

Services offered

Design missions Community center Talks & conferences Education missions Workshop only accessible on request Residency programs Classes & workshops Space rental Prototyping Pay-as-you-go machines & tools access Coworking space

Our best practices

The inspiring things we do here to run our collaborative space

Home spirit to build a strong community

categories
Community Space organisation

What is it?

Göra Makerspace was built and arranged as a home so that people feel easily welcome in the community and comfortable enough in the place to relax, think, share, get inspired and create.

In concrete terms?

When you enter in Göra makerspace, you have the feeling to enter in an artist family house. In front of the building, you can find a table surroundings by sofas made in recycled pallets where people invite you to have a drink or to share their appetizers. In the building, you enter in a larger space like a living room where people can seat in tables to work or talk while other are crossing it to enter in small room dedicated to a type of activity (carpentry, photo, electronic, …) such as bedrooms. At the end, a big kitchen is opened to everyone to cook meals. Everywhere you can find posters, drawings, graffitis, messages in the wall. But what catch you the most is its living activity : everyone is hugging and kissing to say hello, an happy dog running in people legs is the mascot of the place, the doors stays opened according to the users’ needs and events such as parties or cine club are organized for the community. As a result, you can see every day the space full of people (around 20 makers) working in the space.

Why it’s interesting?

Building a community is one of the most difficult part for a makerspace. The first step is to attract people but then you should create the conditions for them to stay and to come back. By getting inspirations from the family and home spirit you enable people to quickly find reassuring references and drop their mask to be themselves and to get involved without fear. The time dedicated to set rituals, to care about people and to organize community events is a key for long term sustainability.

Contact : goraspace@gmail.com

Our makers projects

Get inspired by the DIY projects of our team & members

Oasis

It’s an interactive wall that shows city air quality in real time to raise awareness about pollution effects in the city.


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