We had a wonderful time exploring and exhibiting at Maker Faire Bay Area 2023.
Maker Faire has been on hiatus the last few years, since the COVID pandemic shut down events all over the world. This year it returned in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a brand-new location right on the waterfront in Vallejo, CA.
Vallejo is a suburb of the San Francisco area, and is home to a lot of art warehouses and build spaces. Artists have been moving en masse out of Oakland and SF over the last few years due to rising rents and limited space, especially during the challenging pandemic years when artist income largely evaporated. The city of Vallejo has welcomed a lot of these artists with lower rents and plenty of warehouse space. So many of the people I talked to were delighted and excited to get to participate in this wonderful event in their own backyard.
There was so much creative energy shared on both weekends, and so many wonderful inventions, events, and art pieces that it was hard to see everything. Here are just a few highlights from the event. I was honored to get to exhibit my LED Jellyfish Swarm and some of the costumes I’ve built over the years, and also to participate in a world-class fashion show with a handful of amazing designers. Take a look!
Featured Makers:
- Keith Young: The Holey Bike
- Erin St Blaine: Mermaid Glimmer’s Jellyfish Grotto
- Maria Hoover: MakeFashion
- Sahrye Cohen: Amped Atelier
- Eepybird: Diet Coke & Mentos Show
- Acme Muffineering: Dumpling Car
- Nick Donaldson: Marauder
- Kate Marushina: Abu the Horsefly
- Erin St Blaine: LED Dresses
- Stan Clark: AstroBotanicals
- Bill Kennedy: Inflatabill Inflatable Art & Design
- Ben Howard: Vanessa the Robot
- Andrew Maley: Fairfax Dalek V2
- Flaming Lotus Girls: Serenity
- Shane Romick: Bubble Magic
- Pandora FX: Body Art & Prosthetics
- Mermaid Glimmer: LED Wing Dancers
We did a few interviews with makers we met during the event, check them out below:
- Vanessa the Robot: Animatronic Piano-Playing Robot by Ben Howard
- Flaming Lotus Girls: Mills talks about this amazing teaching organiziation
- Amped Atelier: Sahrye Cohen and her gorgeous LED Fashion
