Philadelphia has a long history of innovators who melded art, science and technology to solve problems. Starting with Colonial inventor and Founding Father Ben Franklin. That innovative spirit is still alive and well today in the City of Brotherly Love. Unfortunately, many 21st-century Philadelphians donât have easy access to the tools, space or the skills necessary to translate that spirit into action. One new business is aiming to change all that: NextFab Studio, a personal fabrication laboratory designed to facilitate creative problem solving. âNextFab Studio is a pre-incubator for budding ideas that might lead to new artworks, new businesses,â said NextFab president and founder Evan Malone. Opened in January, NextFab is a 3,600-square-foot space inside the newest building of its partner organization, the University City Science Center. The studio features several workshops stocked with an extensive list of resources worth more than $600,000, including wood- and metal-working hand tools, computerized machine tools, 3-D printing and modeling, sewing and embroidery machines, electronics workbenches and wet lab equipment.
Membership to NextFab works like a gym for innovators. Members pay a small monthly fee in exchange for the opportunity to test out ideas and develop and produce projects on equipment they couldnât afford on their own or otherwise wouldnât have access to. All members receive basic training on the equipment from a staff of expert instructors. Additional skills classes and occasional workshops are also offered. With an experienced staff and all manner of âmakersâ roaming the studio at any given moment, members also get a built-in community of creative collaborators. âThere is a need for people to understand how the world works,â said Malone. âNextFab is like a university for hire.â Currently, NextFab has 9 employees, 2 interns and is 30 members strong and growing. The membership is an eclectic mix of people, says Malone, from technology enthusiasts and inventors to students and small business owners. One of the many members whose business might not exist if it werenât for NextFab is Sharif Pendleton, an independent artist who makes and sells irreverent jewelry and artful home accessories. Before joining NextFab and getting training on the studioâs computerized laser etcher, Pendleton was outsourcing the production of his irreverent Emotions Can Be Dangerous jewelry line, which features red acrylic hearts with various weapons etched inside of them, to New Zealand. Now, Pendleton creates and produces his own work at NextFab, sells it at half a dozen area boutiques, and, after just a year in business, is making a small profit. âI was designing blind before ... I couldnât experiment ... logistically it stopped making sense,â said Pendleton. âWhat NextFab offers me is the ability to go from concept to completion.â Having access to the high-tech equipment at NextFab enabled Drexel material sciences graduate student Terrence McGuckin to start his own business, Ephemeron Labs. McGuckin is currently using the studio to develop a prototype of the Mighty EBIC, an add-on product that will make it easier and faster to do electron beam induced current measurements on scanning electron microscopes. The product, which is scheduled to launch in late 2010, enables users a way to see how electron devices, such as LEDs and solar cells, are functioning and then explore ways to optimize them. âThe first prototype was in a cardboard box, but now because of NextFab itâs almost a real thing,â said McGuckin. A for-profit company, NextFab works in partnership with the University City Science Centerâs nonprofit BreadBoard program, which aims to give access to NextFab to people who would not otherwise be able to access its equipment. Malone first became involved with BreadBoard after some of his work was included in a show at the Esther Klein Gallery, a showcase for works that explore the intersection of art, science and technology that is run by BreadBoard. After Malone told EKG director and BreadBoard founder Dan Schimmel of his interest in starting a fabrication workshop the two decided they had a lot in common and that a partnership would be mutually beneficial. A Ph.D. in physics and a mechanical engineer, Malone modeled NextFab in part after the MIT Fab Lab, a global network of studios designed to bring digital fabrication to the masses started in the early 1990s by MIT president (and Philadelphia native) Neil Gershenfeld. However, prior to NextFabâs opening no other forum like it existed in Philadelphia. âThe tools and technology are at NextFab, and BreadBoard is working on programming to let people take advantage of it,â said Schimmel. To foster the next generation of creative problem-solvers, Malone and Schimmel are working with local organizations to develop after-school programs for high school students, among other initiatives. âPhiladelphia has a lot of bright people longing to solve problems,â said Malone. â[My hope is that NextFab] will become like a problem-solving resource for the region.â How has Philadelphia shaped your work in the creative sector? Share your profile with us here.
