Solutionspalooza_Artilect_May 13 +May 14.pdf
During his Post-Doctoral at Cornelle University, Nicolas Lassabe discovered the idea of Fablab. As a maker, he was fond of the concept of sharing tools, knowledge, and skills. After he came back to France, Nicolas created the first Fablab in a classroom of 9m2 at a university. His idea was to create a place where people could experiment with their concepts and ideas freely without being judged. By time passed, we changed our space from a 9m2 room to a 120m2 basement, then an open space of 280m2 with a warehouse where 4 Fabfestival were held. In 2020, Artilect was installed in its property in the center of Toulouse.
The objective of Artilect is to democratize digital fabrication to the general public and enterprises. it proposes free workshops to teach members how to use the machines so that they can be autonomous. To create a connection between makers and the companies, it held the FabFestival. The festival gathered the makers, the enterprises, and the general public. In this 4-day festival, there were conferences, round tables, and workshops. The makers presented their projects, the enterprises talked about whether digital fabrication would change their current ways of working and the public discovered what’s new in our world. The journey is full of fun but also a lot of challenges.
The pandemic reshaped our lives. The government reduces the grant. The companies cut down their budgets for the sponsoring to cover their losses during the pandemic. People’s buying behavior has changed due to inflation. When the revenue is inferior to the expenses and there are more business competitors than before, maintaining our Fablab becomes a big challenge. How to increase the revenue is a core issue for our team.
In 2020, we started to work with 2 cities near Toulouse to open a new Fablab in their communities. The authorities wanted to open a new space where the youth could go and learn programming and 3D printing.
Result: they called off the project due to political reasons
The HR took a big part in our annual budget. After checking, we decided to eliminate certain positions and work with freelancers.
Result: the money that we save can be used to cover other expenses
There are three more Fablab in Toulouse. To be different than others, we propose new services besides our old ones. The new services are coworking, event, and training courses.
Results: