Maker Faire Heilbronn 2025

Last weekend I was back at my local Maker Faire at der maker space in der Experimenta Science Center in Heilbronn. The event also functioned as the second stop on the European book tour for “The Tinkering Workshop” with a presentation (in German!) of the behind-the-scenes making of the book and a hands on activity exploring kaleidoscopes (one of the project prompts found in the pages).

I’ve only tried this workshop a couple of times before and I was again impressed by the variety of possibilities and new ideas that were developed around the table. The key element is this cuttable cardstock mirror which makes it easy to prototype and iterate on designs.

Some interesting prototypes that kids and families worked on were distortions with dichroic filter, a interesting design that could reflect and multiply the eye of the viewer back to them and a more traditional kaleidoscope with a little chamber made from a recycled water bottle.

It was really great to bring the book to life with an open ended project and express the most important qualities of tinkering even in translation. It was great to see people collaborating with each other, sharing ideas and experimenting with materials.

The maker faire environment is always such a great chance to connect with local educators, makerspace organizers and inspiring artists. Since moving to a new city (and country) this yearly event gives me the chance to find a community to share ideas and prototypes. It was great to see to crew from places I know already like der makerspace, tinkertank, makeitreal and more while also getting the chance to meet new potential collaborators.

Looking forward to more Maker Faire workshops in the future and the continuation of the book tour which heads to the UK (shifted makerspace, cabaret mechanical theater making space, cambridge science centre and more) in the beginning of March.