Updating currently active Fab Labs

Labs
1

I wonder if others on here have knowledge of the current active/inactive state of Fab Labs across the world? As an ex-employee of two labs, and a user of four others, here is my input:

Fab Lab Ellesmere Port (UK) - Permanently closed in April 2016 - I worked here
Trafford Fab Lab (Altrincham, UK) - Permanently closed in July 2018 - I worked here

Fab Lab Manchester (UK) - Permanently closed in September 2017 (temporary transferred to Trafford Fab Lab before it’s closure)

BEC Fab Lab (Cockermouth, UK) - Permanently in October 2018

Fab Lab Airedale (Keighley, UK) - Permanently closed in 2019? (website now highjacked by Japanese porn!)

The Making Rooms (Blackburn, UK) - Currently open
FabLab @BCA (Warrington, UK) - Currently open

Any others?

Tony

2

Hi Tony, Do you know why these fablabs closed down??

3

Hi Tony,

On fablabs.io, fablabs can indicate their activity status. In fact , they should do that themselves.

At the moment, the list counts 1999 fablabs; 43 of them have status “closed”:

output/fablabs.io all 2021-02-12 14:12:03.368271.csv
line;name;city;country_code;slug;email;activity_status
1;FabLab Breda / moved to library ;Breda;NL;fablabbreda;;closed
2;3DBell FabLab;Mercato San Severino;IT;3dbell;info@3dbell.it;closed
3;Fab Lab Ellesmere Port;Ellesmere Port;GB;fablabellesmereport;fablabep@manufacturinginstitute.co.uk;closed
4;FabLab 276 Val-de-Reuil;Val-de-Reuil;FR;fablab276valdereuil;contact@fablab276.org;closed
5;Tacuru // DELETED// CLOSE;;AR;DELETED;tacurufablab@gmail.com;closed
6;Omaha Nebraska, United States;;US;fablabomaha;info@mcc.edu;closed
7;Innovation Lab, Palnar ;Dantewada;IN;innovationlabpalnar;suhas.labade@yahoo.com;closed
8;FabLab YACHAY;Urcuqui;EC;fablabyachay;jacosta@yachay.gob.ec;closed
9;Fablab TI;København;DK;fablabti;rrx@teknologisk.dk;closed
10;Rupellab - fablab La Rochelle;;FR;rupellab;contact@rupellab.org;closed
11;Fabryka Pasji;Zielona Góra;PL;fabrykapasji;fundacja@fabrykapasji.org;closed
12;Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica;;CR;institutotecnologicodecostarica;;closed
13;Fab Lab Manchester;Manchester;GB;fablabmanchester;info@fablabmanchester.org;closed
14;Fablab HEP Vaud;Lausanne;CH;fablabhepvaud;info@fablab-hepl.ch;closed
15;Fabrique Lab;Porto Alegre;BR;fabriquelab;;closed
16;Fab Lab Floripa;Florianópolis;BR;fablabfloripa;fablabfloripa@gmail.com;closed
17;Idea Factory in Gwacheon National Science Museum;Gwacheon-si;KR;IdeafactoryinGNSM;moohsangsang@gmail.com;closed
18;Laboratório;brasil;BR;qwertyuiop;carlos243128@yahoo.com.br;closed
19;Fab Lab Toscana Cascina;Cascina;IT;fablabcascina;info@fablabcascina.org;closed
20;MAKLAB;Glasgow;GB;maklab;hello@maklab.co.uk;closed
21;Onl’Fait;Genève;CH;onlfait;contact@onlfait.ch;closed
22;la refabrique;Cannes;FR;larefabrique;;closed
23;eco-fab-lab;Brugge;BE;ecofablab;willem@hetentrepot.be;closed
24;Fab Lab Mobile;Les Ulis;FR;fablabmobilecaps;fabriquesnumeriques@caps.fr;closed
25;Fab Lab London;London;GB;fablablondon;hello@fablablondon.org;closed
26;Technoport FabLabs (Belval & Differdange);Belval;LU;technoport;fablablux@technoport.lu;closed
27;DUPLICATE;;RW;DUPLICATE;;closed
28;ZZZ_OLD___Info @ Leze;;FR;zzz;infoaleze@gmail.com;closed
29;fablabljubljana;Ljubljana;SI;fablabljubljana;lab@poligon.si;closed
30;FabLab Padova;Padova;IT;talentlabpadova;stampa3d@talent-lab.it;closed
31;FabLab FAJ;Jaguariúna;BR;fablabfaj;fablabfaj@faj.br;closed
32;FabLab Faenza;Faenza;IT;fablabfaenza;info@fablabfaenza.org;closed
33;MAKLAB - Dumfries;Dumfries;GB;maklabdumfries;hello@maklab.co.uk;closed
34;The Foundry; Bellingham ;Bellingham;US;thefoundrybellingham;mary@bellinghamfoundry.com;closed
35;DELETED;La Plata;AR;microLab;laboratorio@synergia3.com;closed
36;Fab Lab Amman;Amman;JO;fablabamm;loay@3dmena.com;closed
37;Fablab Caldas da Rainha;Caldas da Rainha;PT;fablabcaldasdarainha;fablab@designadvancedresources.org;closed
38;FabCube;;IT;fabcube;info@asdasdasd.com;closed
39;FabLab WA;Munster;AU;fablabwa;contact@fablabwa.org;closed
40;Fab Lab 6 October;6th of October City;EG;fablab6october;connect@qafeer.com;closed
41;NBEL Innovation Workshops;Jerusalem;IL;NBEL;contact@nbel-lab.com;closed
42;PortoFabLab;São Paulo;BR;portofablab;portofablab@espacoculturalportoseguro.com.br;closed
43;FabLab OWL;Detmold;DE;fablabowl;detmold@fablab-owl.de;closed

All the best,
Pieter van der Hijden

4

Would you like for us to updated or do you have access to some of these labs? let us know to proceed accordingly.

5

Fab Lab Ellesmere Port, Trafford Fab Lab and Fab Lab Manchester were all run by The Manufacturing Institute in Manchester, on behalf of local councils and their partners. TMI decided to close Ellesmere Port & transfer activity to Trafford, then amalgamate Manchester with that new location. As the labs were run as part of the charitable output of TMI, when they ran into increasing financial problems (culminating with a merger with The Growth Company), the funding eventually was withdrawn.

BEC Fab Lab (Cockermouth, UK) tried to run independently (after initially being set up by TMI and Britan’s Energy Coast), but seemed to stuggle to keep financial viable.

As for Fab Lab Airedale, I have no further information.

6

As currently I have no official link to any of these Fab Labs, all I can do is suggest they are removed to avoid errors in your records. For the sake of the network and how the public might interact with it, it made sense to me to pass this information on.
Thanks

7

I know also that Makernow in Penryn Cornwall has been closed for at least 4 years. Shame

8

I am currently in the process of moving my FabLab from Essex to Yorkshire. It was a quiet time over Covid so a good time to move as not much going on but Fablab Essex is still very much alive.

I will be near Airedale so would like to make contact with any of the ex-airedale Fablab members, any idea how to do that ?

I am planning to use Facebook when I have established the right support team and location but I will managed to keep Fablab Essex going using various means ( we started before FabLab London or Manchester so are the longest continuous running in UK and want to keep that going. It was fininced by me through my 3D printer development company which is still going but a little slower because of Covid.

Another issue I have is that I would like to change the name of the Fablab ( not sure what until the location is decided) but how on earth do I do that ? I sincerely hope its not through github because I won’t go there. Is there someone I can email to do it for me ? or an easier way ?
Fablabessex@mic2c.com