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Fab Lab La Casemate, Grenoble

About the Foundation

Our vision and goals

We recognize that today’s division of wealth, access to knowledge, means and resources is not balanced or fair. Our vision and mission is to develop humanitarian, educational, cultural and scientific action to reach our goals.

We work to create new social structures that give equal opportunities, foster the development of broad and global societal literacy around new technologies at the intersection of the physical and digital and facilitates research into and adoption of new, ‘just-in-time’ learning methodologies

We improve the access to technology to bridge the digital divide and enable, facilitate and promote the maker and DIY movement and culture worldwide.

We strive to synchronize our strategy with other (fab) foundations and organizations working on similar matters in Europe and world wide.

Our fundraising efforts allow us to enable the implementation of our mission and facilitate people and organizations to reach the desired. impact.

The Foundation’s board features people from different European countries, and always 1 member from the Fab Foundation in the United States. The teams working on projects are created based on needs and duration.

Current projects

In our current program we provide highly-customised and “bespoke” support to a small group of Ukrainian refugees with links to Ukrainian maker/fablab communities so that, while displaced, they will be able to further support their local refugee communities and when opportunity to return home arises, we will support rebuilding of maker/fablab infrastructure and communities in Ukraine after the war.

The program is structured around hands-on and remote workshops drawing on the vast maker/fablab culture. The exact format of the activities (i.e. subject, location, human and material resources, etc.) are developed and specified through an iterative process with the ability to rapidly adjust, accommodate and course-correct .

The individuals we work with are native Ukrainians who already worked in a Fab Labs or Makerspaces. Several of the spaces where set up before on the contact line, by Terre des hommes (Tdh) and other organizations, to work with vulnerable youth and communities.

We work with professionals in mental health and psychosocial support to assure both the people organizing the workshops and the beneficiaries are well taken care of and receive the help they need. To advance this project we currently need spaces (Fab Labs or Makerspaces) to organize workshops, but also machines, consumables and funding for the all the above. Reach out to us if you’d like to help by offering time, space, a machine or materials, or make a donation below!

Future projects

We are working on an easier to deploy version of a Fab Lab, specifically designed for development and humanitarian efforts. In collaboration with The Resilience Collective, Terre des hommes, the University of Geneva and other organizations we will first optimize and complete the design, after which prototypes will be tested in the field.

Make a Donation

But what does my donation do?

We use donations in different ways. We fundraise to (re)create new Fab Labs in the Ukraine, as soon as that is possible. For now your money will pay for Makers to organize workshops, for materials, for the use of spaces, and for machines and tools.

We are also looking for Fab Labs and spaces to organize workshops, tools, machines and consumables. If you want to donate space, goods or time, reach out to us !

The Board

Klaas Hernamdt (Treasurer)

Klaas is passionate about the maker movement and has helped building the fab network from it’s inception, in the Netherlands and internationally. Professionally he divides his time on projects that drive social innovation and impact. Key words: arts, culture, technology, entrepreneurship, sustainability, humanitarian innovation. Privately he is more a cat than a dog person; he loves spending time with his friends, wife and son. Enjoys doing Taiji and works on improving his speed skating and sailing skills.
 

Konstantin Leonenko (Secretary)

Konstantin has been active in FabLab movement since 2010 launching and managing labs in Ukraine and the UK. He believes in the transformational power of holistic, hands-on STEAM education and works across sectors and industries to bring new forms of digital literacy to the society

Jean-michel Molenaar (Chair)

Jean-michel has worked on leveraging Fab Labs and their technology since 2007, including in humanitarian and development settings, and is passionate about using digital tools to improve the lives of those in need. He lives in France with his wife and 3 sons.

Sherry Lassiter

Sherry Lassiter is one of the architects of the MIT global initiative for field on-site technology development, the Fab Lab program. Lassiter is Director of the Fab Foundation in the US, a non-profit organization committed to building technical capacity in a locality, improving individuals’ abilities to develop themselves and their communities and bringing access to tools and knowledge that cultivate and support innovating practices.
 

Daniele Ingrassia

Daniele runs a company selling open source digital fabrication machines based in Germany. With a background in computer science and artificial intelligence, he mainly develops open source hardware such as open source drones, electronics and machinery, as well as the satshakit boards, a dual source laser cutter and a large format 3D printer. His projects are being replicated in many other countries, and Daniele held several fabrication and machine building workshops around the world.
 

Partner organizations