Time Out first met founder and CEO Anna Lise De Lorenzo in 2013 after she’d raised $20,000 through a Pozible campaign for her big idea – a workshop space for people to learn and engage with making things.
Since then, Makerspace &Company opened in a warehouse space in Marrickville where De Lorenzo and her team have fostered a community of hundreds of volunteers and supporters to host a space that's educating Sydneysiders in pottery, wood-, metal- and leatherwork.
“A space like this hadn’t existed before in Sydney," says De Lorenzo. "It’s a space where anyone can come in and learn, or use the equipment – and we really welcome people not knowing how to do things, like throwing a pot or welding a piece of metal.”
Makerspace &Company have since moved from their Barclay Street site to Gerald Street, only a five minute walk away. Members can still drop in and use the equipment on a casual basis, up to more professional practitioners. Memberships start from $15 per week for a small studio space, including equipment hire, 20 per cent off courses and 24-hour access.
“We’re really committed to having education for the creatively curious, but we also want people to get real skills here,” says De Lorenzo.
If you’d consider yourself more ‘creatively curious’, classes range from $44.06 for handbuilding ceramics to $900 for wooden coffin making.
Meet the locals that are making homewares right here in Sydney.
Find more makerspaces in Sydney.