By Ava Gessl, Undergraduate Library Making Fellow, 2024-2025
As my final semester at Berkeley comes to a close, so does my time at the Makerspace. Over the past three years, I’ve had the chance to be a part of the development of this space and have been able to interact with so much of the Berkeley community. More than anything, what stands out to me is the community we’ve built. I’m so happy that the Makerspace is something that many people hear about through word of mouth, with people who attended Drop-in Hours or workshops enthusiastically sharing the space with their friends.
When I first started working in the Makerspace, we were out in the open of Doe 190, with less people milling about and getting the chance to see us. Since our move, the surrounding tables have filled with students and more people are able to curiously glance around our space as they walk by. There’s been a steady flow of students coming through the space, and it’s always exciting to learn about how they found out about the Makerspace.
One of the biggest changes that I’ve appreciated is how workshops are structured. We work together as a team to draft comprehensive guides for how the workshops should run and try to prepare for different levels of student experience and attendance. Behind every sewing, vinyl, papercraft, felting, and every other workshop there is a surprising amount of coordination. We choose materials, write clear instructions for attendees, and estimate how long each part of the workshop should take. I’ve come to really love that behind-the-scenes work, especially having a chance to try the craft out myself to try and identify areas where students might get stuck. It’s fun looking for ways to improve instructions and finding new ways to use the given instructions to make something else.
Over the years, I’ve helped with many workshops and each one has taught me something new. Not just about the craft, but about teaching, patience, and how to create an inviting learning environment. I’ve worked with students who’ve never touched a sewing machine before, and others who’ve come in with something they thrifted that morning and are coming to adjust the hems like they’ve done dozens of times before.
I came into the Makerspace with sewing as my biggest skill, with an interest in other crafts but not much experience outside of an art class. The Makerspace has allowed me to develop more skills and made me fall in love with felting, stamp carving, and crocheting. Each new skill makes me think about how to plan ahead, visualize each step, and how I’d teach it to someone else so they could avoid some of the mistakes I made. Those one-on-one interactions are some of my favorite moments, the small moments of sitting next to someone and teaching them something whether I’ve done it a hundred times or I just learned it last week. One such interaction has been when someone came to the Makerspace with a big plan of learning to sew and make a shirt. Though we weren’t able to get to the shirt that day, I was able to direct them through different sewing exercises and give them advice about their fabric and pattern choice. When they returned the next day, they came to show me their fabric and tell me about what they planned to do that day. It was such a nice moment to have someone come back to the Makerspace and excitedly tell me about how they planned to use the skills I helped teach them to complete a project.
As I wrap up my time here, I feel grateful for everything this role has given me. I’ve gained practical skills, yes, but also a deeper understanding of how to lead with empathy, how to collaborate with a team, and how to support others in their creative journeys. I’m leaving the Makerspace better than I found it, but I also know it will keep growing after I’m gone. Thank you to everyone I’ve worked with, learned from, and taught along the way. I’ll forever be grateful for my time here, and I hope to continue to use the skills I learned to craft new things to share with others.