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Are you interested in learning how to design 3D models but don’t know where to start? Vladimir Mariano, the instructor at Desktop Makes, wanted to fill the gaps in educational resources by running a maker space in his city and eventually starting his online course. Listen in on Vladimir’s passion for creating an accessible space for anyone interested in making things!

If you’re new to Shop Talk, we’re a podcast by Autodesk Fusion where we hang out with designers and makers live from their workshops. We give listeners candid conversations with talented folks who pour their hearts and soul into their craft. Here is a brief clip from the episode below.

Something really interesting about your maker space is seeing real products in their infancy. I met one woman who noticed an issue with serving ice at picnics. Why isn’t there a convenient ice dispenser that doesn’t need to be plugged into anything? She had a really cool product she was working on.

Yea, that was Lisa. She walked in one day and presented her problem. That’s what’s cool about maker spaces. You meet people with an idea and they’re so excited about it, like that’s their baby. You can see that look in their eye, how they’re excited about it. Some of them are decent products from the get-go, and others are less confident about their ideas, but you can still see their excitement. Then you get to sit down with them and help them figure it out.

So, Lisa sat down and did an entire interview for us and it’s available on my [YouTube] channel. You can hear more about it there. Her problem is seeing floppy bags of ice at a cookout that everyone is scooping out of. She thought, “No, no, this doesn’t work. There has to be a better way.”

She wanted to design an automatic ice dispenser and was running through all these different designs to get it to work. Then, she heard of 3D printing after someone referred her to our maker space, since we have 3D printers here. She shows up with a design mocked up by another designer. She had step files and asked me to help print them. I thought it was a cool idea too, so I was really looking forward to helping her.

I threw her step files into Fusion and made the necessary modifications. Then we printed it on a CR 10S. We didn’t get to print it in its full size, maybe 80% where it was still a functional prototype. That print took three days to do. The CR 10S doesn’t print like the Bambus do today. It was a new process back then.

When we finally printed it, she brought in little rocks and gems thrown in there to see if it worked, and it did! The next step was to see if she could present it to investors instead of simply describing what it is and how it works. Getting to demonstrate its function is so important.

The beautiful thing about maker spaces is how it unlocks enthusiasm and creativity in everyone. Back when we were setting up our maker space, I went to the post office to register our names and addresses. I explained what a maker space was to the employee, and she says, “Oh, I have this great kitchen utensil idea!” and excitedly explained her idea.

Everyone has cool ideas; you don’t have to be a product designer to come up with something. Your experiences make your creative process unique. It allows you to notice something others may not. The beauty of a maker space is bringing all these people together and giving them education and access to make something original.

It definitely makes me wonder how many potential inventors could be out there. If they had access to a maker space or these various tools, like a 3D printer, it could change history.

Stay tuned for the next episode of Shop Talk. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, catch up on any episodes you missed, and get your audio-only fix on Spotify.