Hacking up something new at The Concoctory

"We wanted to do a hackerspace, because that's where I come from," says Mar Williams, cofounder of The Concoctory, a retail shop and nonprofit hackerspace -- think of it it as a postmodern crafts space, where yarn and needlepoint are replaced with soldering irons and 3D printers. It's a place where DIY (do it yourself) is an ethic. The space allows members 24/7 access and also hosts regular classes on lockpicking (only for fun), building a Raspberry Pi -- the $25 computer on a card -- and others as opportunities come up. 

The Concoctory recently hosted a class on soldering "TV-B-Gone" kits. The $20 hack kit allows users to turn off all sorts of TVs. The teacher "was sort of hanging out with another friend and hackerspace member and he said, 'Hey, I can teach a soldering class,'" Mar explains. "He joined up for the month." 

“We get a lot of people like that,” she adds. "We don’t have professors, but people who are like: 'What do I know?' and they teach that." Another person who's taught at the space calls himself a "mad physicist" and "taught an intro to capacitors and inductors class from a physics perspective, so it’s an interesting twist."

Williams and partner Fred Roybal opened The Concoctory in March 2013, and in September they opened up the hackerspace. "I'd been part of this hackerspace and I loved the way it worked," Williams explains. "I wanted to do it again and I wanted to figure out a different way to do it. And I think the existing model is great and I think tacking on sort of the gift shop to the hackerspace is good."

Since opening the hackerspace they've attracted about 10 members. Most members pay $50 a month but they also offer a "scholarship" membership for members who can't pay and would rather trade sweat equity to use the space. 

"I want people to make really amazing projects in the workspace," Williams says. The Concoctory and its members are currently building out hacker stations, which will include a 3D printing station (they have two 3D printers), a silkscreen station, a soldering electronics bench, a lathe station and potentially a laser-etching station, among other tools and gadgets.

"We haven't had anybody use the lathe yet, but they use the hell out of the 3D printer," observes Williams.

Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Chris Meehan with tips and leads for future stories at  chris@confluence-denver.com.