In a concrete-walled room the size of a warehouse tucked away on the northern edge of campus, a sewing machine whirs as a Comet turns a fabric pile into a flowy dress. Beside them, another Comet laser cuts panels of wood while a 3D printer spits out robot parts. This multipurpose makerspace, run by UTDesign, is the often-underappreciated heart of crafting at UTD.
The UTDesign Makerspace offers students and staff an area to work on crafts while offering an abundance of resources. Created in 2015 by Rod Wetterskog — ECS assistant dean and the head of UTDesign — with the goal of creating an advanced fabrication space open to everyone in the UTD community, the makerspace. The Makerspace has continued to operate on the second floor of the SP/N buildings from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays since its foundation under Wetterskog. A decade later, UTDesign Studio Assistant Manager Tim Givens shares the same sentiment as Rod, believing that the space is full of opportunities.
“I’ve been using and advocating for makerspaces for several years, [since] joining the UTDesign team during the ’22 fall semester,” Givens said. “My intention is to grow Makerspace into a resource that all Comets can utilize and be proud of.”
The Makerspace offers equipment such as resin and 3D printers, sewing machines, power analyzers and more. This type of equipment is pricey and typically inaccessible to a university student, making their presence at the Makerspace helpful and unique. The website for the Makerspace offers training for much of the equipment and has a full list of resources available.
While overseen by the UTDesign program, the makerspace is led entirely by students and is partially funded through its multiple nonprofit partners across North Texas, such as Dallas Makerspace, TheLab.ms Makerspace and Mouser, which also offer mentorship to students. But while the donations and teaching activities are crucial for the makerspace’s longevity, Givens doesn’t believe they define the space.
“I think the true heart of UTDesign Makerspace is in our student organization partnerships,” Givens said.
The Makerspace also partners with organizations such as Comet Robotics, the Student Game Developer Association, the Wind Energy Club and more who use the space for weekly meetings. They build robots, have game jams and use special storage and tables reserved specifically for partnered organizations.
One of the campus organizations partnered with the Makerspace is Comet Cosplay, a club focused on the cosplay community on campus. Lauren Mangu, a physics senior and the organization’s president, said she is grateful for the partnership.
“To have that [The Makerspace] as a free resource is very helpful and it attracts a lot of attention whenever we bring up that that’s a resource,” Mangu said. “Some people become more inclined to actually start cosplaying now that they know that they can buy their materials but use these specific tools for free.”
The Makerspace offers many tools useful for crafting cosplay outfits and accessories, such as 3D printing, tools to cut EVA foam and wood and sewing machines. All the tools are free to use and are either donated or a part of the actual Makerspace itself.
“It really helps to have those kinds of things that are very prominent or at least very widely used in the cosplay community in general,” Mangu said.
Mangu said having the Makerspace as a resource is useful because of the hands-on interactive experience one can have with the right machines. Mangu believes that the Makerspace makes a typically inaccessible hobby something anyone can get into.
“It feels really good,” Mangu said. “Having a space that caters to things like that [cosplay] and also as an org being recognized by them to be able to … partner with them and for them to recognize us.”