The World Maker Faire takes over the New York Hall of Science in Queens this weekend. Occupying the grounds of the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs, it channels the optimism of those historic events — the belief that bringing people from all over the world together to share ideas can help shape a better future.

Here at Kickstarter, we feel a special kinship with the folks behind Maker Faire because they share our own expansive definition of creativity. At the fair you’ll find roboticists, artists, crafters, chefs, electrical engineers, amateur inventors, game designers, musicians, and many others enthusiastically sharing their creations with the curious crowd.

Here’s a sampling of the dozens of Kickstarter creators who will be displaying their projects at the 2017 World Maker Faire on September 23 and 24.

Looking Glass Factory: L3D Cube
Looking Glass Factory adds a new dimension to pixel art and digital animation with their volumetric LED cube, which allows artists and programmers to sculpt with light and create interactive visualizations of sound and music. Because it’s built on the open-source Arduino platform, folks with a knack for hacking can customize the display and integrate it into larger projects.

 

Back in May we told you about Hardware Studio, a new initiative from Kickstarter, Avnet, and Dragon Innovation that’s aimed at supporting hardware creators. Today we’re very happy to tell you that Hardware Studio is live at… hardware.studio.

We’re kicking it off with some advice from people who know a few things about hardware. Eric Migicovsky, founder and CEO of Pebble Technology, writes about lessons learned from his Pebble experience. And Dragon CEO Scott Miller, who also helped build the Roomba, runs through the steps in the journey from idea to manufactured product.

As of today, Dragon and Avnet are accepting applications for Hardware Studio Connection. Kickstarter creators who participate in that program will receive personal advice from Avnet and Dragon engineers, among other benefits.

If you’re thinking about running a hardware project, or are already deep in the planning stages, we hope you’ll find Hardware Studio useful. Read on for an excerpt from a Hardware Studio post by Kickstarter's Design and Technology team about the thinking that went into the initiative and the ways that it can help creators plan ahead before they launch a project.

Earlier this year we announced a trial run of a new Creators-in-Residence program. As part of Kickstarter's mission to help bring creative projects to life, we welcomed three teams of filmmakers into our office as they worked on completing their films. We loved working alongside them and learning from their process as they filmed new material, edited footage, and shipped rewards to their backers.

Today we’re announcing a second group of residents that joined the program a few weeks back. Joining us in our Brooklyn HQ for the next three months are:

“The Making of Products should:
Invite chance and improvisation so that every product is different.
Use experimental processes but be simple in their form.
Be enjoyable and challenging.”

These are a few of the principles that guide Granby Workshop, the architectural ceramics studio founded by Turner Prize-winning design collective Assemble. The workshop grew out of a larger effort to revitalize Liverpool’s Granby neighborhood, producing distinctive architectural materials to renovate local homes and creating new manufacturing jobs within the community. Check out this video to learn more about their process and story.

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Granby Workshop’s latest project, Splatware, is a line of ceramic plates and cups made by squishing together different colors of clay in a massive industrial press. You can see the delightfully unpredictable results in person at Kickstarter’s booth at the London Design Festival’s designjunction fair September 21–24. Assemble and Granby Workshop will be serving baked goods and tea using Splatware, and members of the Kickstarter team will be on hand to hear about the creative projects you’d like to bring to life.

(Scroll down for the English translation.)

日本のプロジェクトを世界に向けて。

Kickstarterは、日本のクリエイター向けにサービス提供を開始しました。アーティスト、作家、映画制作者、ミュージシャン、デザイナーなど、様々なクリエイターが世界に向けてプロジェクトを公開し、Kickstarterのグローバルコミュニティから、プロジェクト資金を募ることができるようになりました。

Projects of Earth began with a question inspired by the Voyager Golden Record: What would you create to represent life and culture on Earth in 2017?

With the launch of this initiative, we hoped to create a showcase of human imagination, and thanks to you, that vision has become a reality. Today we’re extending a huge thank you to the 120+ artists, designers, musicians, and makers from around the globe who answered this question through their own creative projects. The one-minute video below offers a glimpse at their unique ideas — from paintings of our technological future, to an all-terrain Earth rover, to a dance homage to American cinema. Take a look:

 “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us.”

—Carl Sagan in Pale Blue Dot, referencing a photo of Earth taken by the Voyager 1 space probe from a record distance of 6 billion kilometers.

When the first Voyager space probe launched into orbit on August 20, 1977, forty years ago yesterday, it carried on board an exceptional artifact: the Voyager Golden Record. This “galactic greeting card” was designed by a team led by Carl Sagan to share scenes, sounds, music, and greetings from Earth — a metaphoric snapshot of humanity — with any far-off life forms who might discover it.

Today, millions of people will witness a rare solar eclipse. This cosmic event reminds us of something profound that’s often overlooked: we’re all together on this pale blue dot. Projects of Earth is a creative initiative inspired by this collective vision of humankind. Between August 20 and September 5 — the original launch dates of the two Voyager space probes — Kickstarter creators will launch projects that explore life and culture on Earth in 2017. Together, these projects will create a multifaceted portrait of our world today.

 

As we announced in June, Kickstarter Music is very pleased to be developing a collaboration with Qrates intended to simplify vinyl pressing and production what we’re calling MAKE Vinyl. Our ongoing goal is to help and support the bands and musicians we work with gain access to the tools and resources they most often need. MAKE Vinyl provides this support by helping creators plan, manufacture, and fulfill their projects — so they can focus on making music.

The first batch of MAKE Vinyl projects are live now. We’re sharing some of them — and a few other Music projects we dig — below. Get into it.