About

 

Medway Makers was founded on 8 September 2013, the day after the Brighton Mini Maker Faire which our founder and his daughter age 9 attended. We are an active maker movement in the Medway towns with a small but active membership of electronics, coding and creative enthusiasts. We meet approximately every 3 weeks to collaborate on various creative projects. Things we have made or are in the process of making are :

• Award Winning Robots*
• Weather Station
• Biltong dryer box
• Retro Arcade Cabinet
• Live streaming Bird Box
• Vintage Radio upgrade
• Greeter Robot
• ‘Earth’ Rover
• Touch Screen Chess
• House Robot
• Ship ID system
• UAV
• Kerbal/Elite flight deck controller
• Mini humanoid robot

We aspire to bring Science & Technology, Art & Design, and Innovation & Industry into the same place.

We hope to bring new people into making, people who never made before. We believe that no matter how smart you are or are not you have the right to make something you can feel proud of and we hope to foster a culture of cooperation and fun where you can enjoy and develop your capabilities.

*In 2017 Medway Makers entered the international Pi Wars robotics competition at Cambridge University and we won 1st Place in our class. The robot was designed, built and coded entirely from scratch by members of Medway Makers. 

In 2017, our Founder Tom De Havas, left our shores and moved to Italy. Since then the running of Medway Makers has been left in the capable hands of Mike McRoberts. 

For details of our up and coming social meetups please click HERE. 

Maker Culture

The maker culture is a contemporary culture or subculture representing a technology-based extension of DIY culture that intersects with hacker culture (which is less concerned with physical objects as it focuses on software) and revels in the creation of new devices as well as tinkering with existing ones.

The maker culture in general supports open-source hardware. Typical interests enjoyed by the maker culture include engineering-oriented pursuits such as electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, and the use of Computer Numeric Control tools, as well as more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking, and, mainly, its predecessor, the traditional arts and crafts.

The subculture stresses a cut-and-paste approach to standardized hobbyist technologies, and encourages cookbook re-use of designs published on websites and maker-oriented publications. There is a strong focus on using and learning practical skills and applying them to reference designs.

Our Founder

A word from our founder, Tom De Havas:

I was born in 1961 and have been a techie from birth, my first word was “light-on” and for me the light has never gone off again. I love science, technology and many art forms, am a great fan of good design and as likely to be found visiting the New Designers exhibition as London Model Engineering exhibition.

I found out about the maker movement when I saw a copy of Make Magazine in Foyles bookshop. It was all in San Francisco! Then I visited the Brighton Maker Faire and decided I had to have “maker” culture in Medway now, so the next day 8 September 2013, instead of going to live in San Francisco I founded Medway makers.

I have designed and made cloths and electronics with equal passion. I have spent the majority of my life working with electronics and computers, and I am interested in systems including mechanical, electronic and biological systems like us. You can take a look at my website or my CV if you like.