NEWSROOM
Maker Club named New Club of the Year
28 October 2022
The University of Auckland Maker Club was named New Club of the Year at a glitzy University event at the Pullman Hotel, held in recognition of the more than 200 clubs on campus. The award recognised the Maker Club’s achievements in community building, with praise for their collaborations with multiple clubs on campus.
The Maker Club aims to inspire and include anyone and everyone who makes. The club meets regularly on Friday nights at Unleash Space, the innovation hub managed by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). Maker Space Coordinator Hayden Moore, who is also part of the Maker Club Executive, says “There are a lot of creative people who are members of the Maker Space at Unleash Space who like tinkering and working on interesting projects. Maker Club gives these people the weekly meeting time after classes to build friendships and share knowledge, which is what makes it such a great community!”
The Maker Club had a tough start to the year engaging students, who were studying remotely. The University of Auckland did not begin lectures in full until May. Maker Club co-founder Etienne Naude says “Once we were out of lockdown, we quickly moved to in- person events to become one of the few clubs still operating, which attracted many new members who were missing socialising. This did mean we had to follow much stricter rules such as spaced seating.” Club President Zac Miller-Waugh launched the academic year with an event for 50 members. By the end of the year the club’s membership had increased to nearly 500.
The Maker Club has held over 50 events, many of which were collaborations with other clubs. This included a mocktail event using liquid nitrogen, run in collaboration with science and physics clubs. Other Maker Club events included cardboard box fort building and battle, mug decorating, smart lanterns, duct tape boats, hammered silver rings and an entry into the 48 Hour Film Festival.
Naude says that the club membership is very diverse. “Often members from less creative faculties are looking for an outlet for their ideas or to speak to other people who could help them with their project so we still do have many people from all different faculties.
“We have done many collabs and it has been awesome working with all the other clubs, and we are always looking for new collaborations. So if you are interested in this please contact us. One collab which has stood out was our collab with the Google Developer Student Club (GDSC) to create smart lanterns. Using the technical knowledge of GDSC we were able to host an event which had 50 members with little technical background each walk home with a custom-coded, voice-controlled smart lantern for free! This means they were able to issue commands such as ‘Hey google, make my lantern green’ and their lantern would change accordingly.”
Planned events for the future include DIY drones, chia pets, combat robotics, neon signs, cider, cast jewellery, cookie cutters and bus card rings. The club is also exploring enabling members to go to markets to sell creations.
New members are welcome. Open to all students of the University of Auckland.
28 October 2022
The University of Auckland Maker Club was named New Club of the Year at a glitzy University event at the Pullman Hotel, held in recognition of the more than 200 clubs on campus. The award recognised the Maker Club’s achievements in community building, with praise for their collaborations with multiple clubs on campus.
The Maker Club aims to inspire and include anyone and everyone who makes. The club meets regularly on Friday nights at Unleash Space, the innovation hub managed by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). Maker Space Coordinator Hayden Moore, who is also part of the Maker Club Executive, says “There are a lot of creative people who are members of the Maker Space at Unleash Space who like tinkering and working on interesting projects. Maker Club gives these people the weekly meeting time after classes to build friendships and share knowledge, which is what makes it such a great community!”
The Maker Club had a tough start to the year engaging students, who were studying remotely. The University of Auckland did not begin lectures in full until May. Maker Club co-founder Etienne Naude says “Once we were out of lockdown, we quickly moved to in- person events to become one of the few clubs still operating, which attracted many new members who were missing socialising. This did mean we had to follow much stricter rules such as spaced seating.” Club President Zac Miller-Waugh launched the academic year with an event for 50 members. By the end of the year the club’s membership had increased to nearly 500.
The Maker Club has held over 50 events, many of which were collaborations with other clubs. This included a mocktail event using liquid nitrogen, run in collaboration with science and physics clubs. Other Maker Club events included cardboard box fort building and battle, mug decorating, smart lanterns, duct tape boats, hammered silver rings and an entry into the 48 Hour Film Festival.
Naude says that the club membership is very diverse. “Often members from less creative faculties are looking for an outlet for their ideas or to speak to other people who could help them with their project so we still do have many people from all different faculties.
“We have done many collabs and it has been awesome working with all the other clubs, and we are always looking for new collaborations. So if you are interested in this please contact us. One collab which has stood out was our collab with the Google Developer Student Club (GDSC) to create smart lanterns. Using the technical knowledge of GDSC we were able to host an event which had 50 members with little technical background each walk home with a custom-coded, voice-controlled smart lantern for free! This means they were able to issue commands such as ‘Hey google, make my lantern green’ and their lantern would change accordingly.”
Planned events for the future include DIY drones, chia pets, combat robotics, neon signs, cider, cast jewellery, cookie cutters and bus card rings. The club is also exploring enabling members to go to markets to sell creations.
New members are welcome. Open to all students of the University of Auckland.
EMAIL
CIE@AUCKLAND.AC.NZ
POSTAL ADDRESS
THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND BUSINESS SCHOOL
PRIVATE BAG 92019, AUCKLAND
