Maker Movement: Everyone Can Be an Inventor

The maker movement is about the idea that everyone can be an inventor. This movement supports and encourages creativity of all forms. The creation of everything from music, art, writing, technology and much more is what makes this movement so great. It allows for everyone to follow their dreams and the freedom to be able to do it on their own.

Websites for buying and selling products associated with the maker movement are becoming increasingly more popular. It is now so easy to shop online many people would rather do it than go to the store. According to Forbes, the maker movement is well on it’s way to reinventing retail (Forbes, 2013).

Etsy is a well known website used for buying and selling homemade products such as crafts and vintage goods. This website has been so successful that for some sellers on Etsy they have made it their full-time job creating and selling their product.

Kickstarter is a program that funds and encourages everyday inventors. This program funds and supports many creative projects. In order to receive funding the creators must reach the funding goals and deadlines. Kickstarter has been very successful in its business model. Since Kickstarter’s launch in 2009 they have funded 51,000 project (Kickstarter).

Shapeways is another great website associated with the maker movement. It allows for inventors to create a design and send it into shapeways where they use a 3D printer method to manufacture their idea. This website has allowed for the freedom of the inventors to create whatever design they can think of and not have to worry about the manufacturing of the product (Forbes).

The modern global market is alive to innovative businesses practices in the “maker movement” Indeed, we can experience thi...

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...collaborative project, as makers can share CAD files online with others and get ideas and feedback about what they’re working on.

As people become more concerned with recycling and saving the planet, there has been a growing movement to source old unneeded items to reuse in the manufacturing of new inventions. Not only can this result in lower overheads for makers, it can also keep broken or obsolete items out of landfills. For example, 26 year old Jack Zylkin modified an old typewriter so that it could be used as a standard keyboard (Kalish 2010). Rather than going out and buying all the necessary components to make a new typewriter from scratch that is compatible with modern computers, he literally just took an old typewriter as is and did a minimal amount of work to create his finished piece, which saves him both time and money and is also better for the earth.