Welcome to the First Build Makerspace.

First Build First and foremost as a destination for makers.

We are tasked with inventing and innovating the future of the home.

But the most important way we do that is with community.

So first build is open to the public.

Our focused community hours are Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. and 9 to 5 on Saturdays and quite any, quite literally anyone can come in.

Our makerspace is available to anyone 18 and over or 13 and up with a parent or guardian.

That's where we have hand tools, cool 3D printers, lasers, things that can let you undertake a lot of projects, whether you're coming up with your own product prototype or you're an artist or artisan trying to make something creative.

So we're here on U of L campus in Louisville.

Our makerspace is behind us, and that's where we get to interact with other creatives and enthusiasts.

As we think about the next inventions of the future, but all around you'll see we have an electronics shop, our 3D printers, lasers, which are some of our most popular pieces of equipment because you could do anything from signage to pieces of art with them.

And that's always a fan favorite.

And at the different stations we have products that first build has worked on in various stages of development.

They may be doing testing, they may be out for demos.

We're going to head into the shop right now.

This is where we do a lot of our prototyping.

This is where we we cut in band a lot of metal, so safe place, but because we always practice safety first.

So let me take you inside as we move deeper into the shop.

I've talked to you about a few things today.

We love working with our community.

We love inspiring makers or working with existing makers and artists.

We develop products, but we also have lots of creative people in here.

So behind me is Colin.

Colin is an interesting character.

He's a nationally famous blacksmith who started working with us around the start of the pandemic and using this as his home away from home.

Colin is now our head content creator and videographer here, but in his spare time he still makes awesome at Damascus weapons and he leads the first build blacksmithing.

Park.

Behind me is our four and a half kilowatt laser that is not available to the community.

It is big.

It is dangerous, it is very productive and it's a heartbeat item for our manufacturing.

We do use it some in product development, but we've used it to manufacture products like the mela indoor mushroom fruiting chamber as well as the Monogram hearth, often being a steward of the community.

We've got a lot of skilled people here.

We have a lot of amazing equipment and that's not accessible to everyone, especially some of our bigger equipment.

And it's just part of being a citizen of Louisville to share that with everyone.

But it's not just altruistic.

We get a lot from it too, because we get to work with passionate people who are solving problems we wouldn't have thought of, or they give us feedback on things we're working on and they sometimes tell us we shouldn't be working on the thing.

We're excited about or the thing we're not excited about.

They're like, You should spend a lot more time on That.

First build is meant to signify that creativity.

The very first build of something, whether it's a product might look like this or it might work like this.

Oftentimes it's not both of those things.

And that gets me really, really excited because it can just start with the kernel of an idea.

But those things come to life with lots of passionate people, and this is a destination for those passionate people.

And I just love being a part of it.