At home with makers
A different type of workshop: Visiting the Hafven makerspace
Hafven in Hanover is a fertile breeding ground for creative makers and all those aspiring to be just that. The co-working and makerspace recently celebrated its first birthday – with a table football set. Self-built, of course.
Our visit to the Hafven co-working and makerspace in the north of Hanover starts at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning at the café bar. We are meeting Pauline Raczkowski, who is responsible for communication at Hafven. We are curious to know where the name "Hafven" comes from. "It's a combination of the German word 'Hafen' (meaning 'port') and 'haven'," Pauline explains. "Hafven turns one this weekend and that is obviously a reason to celebrate." The concept: Working together with other members in an office (co-working space) or in the workshop (makerspace) with professional tools. The business model appears to be successful, with the number of Hafven members increasing every month. In December of 2017 there were just over 800 members – getting that number to 1000 is the declared goal of the ten Hafven founders. We are meeting one of them in the workshop in just a few minutes. We quickly finish our drinks and then stroll towards the makerspace with Pauline, full of expectation.
The glass workshop
Founder Nikolai Reichelt welcomes us at the entrance to the workshop, which he also heads. "The woodworking shop in the makerspace isn't a joinery in the traditional sense, but more of a creative workshop where projects are approached in an unconventional way," Nikolai explains as we walk through the workshop. Even from a purely visual standpoint, the room offers ideal conditions for creative processes: There is ample light coming through the glass panes that look out onto the courtyard. The workshop area is completely visible from the outside. "Everybody is very curious in the workshop and keen to know which project their neighbour is working on. Those with experience and expertise are happy to share it and everyone is always exchanging tips and tricks. This mutual inspiration, and especially the variety of projects, motivates us to tackle new projects and develop our own ideas. Our members often help each other."
"Hafven is a playground for professionals and amateurs"
"Most of our members who are interested in the workshop are looking for a space, or for tools, or both," Nikolai tells us. "Our members include professional users as well as amateurs. Some of them simply want to get to know certain materials or learn specific machining techniques with help from professionals. Of course, many also have very concrete projects in mind, or at least an idea of what they want to build." People who like to do a bit of tinkering in their spare time have access to a very comprehensive pool of tools at the Hafven makerspace and are given room to experiment and realise their ideas. "Many have no space for tools and projects at home and simply don't need all these machines all the time. Cutting boards for a new shelf with a jigsaw on top of the dining table is just no fun. It's better that people come to Hafven, where they can learn how to do it properly and can make use of the possibilities we have here."
„I just wanted to build my own lamp. Once I had decided on a shape, I experimented with different types of wood: Maple, ash, even walnut and oak.“
Jens Thiemann - Hafven member
A lamp called "meiLi"
Jens Thiemann is one of Hafven's members. We meet him at the workshop together with "meiLi", a modern LED table lamp made from solid wood, designed and built by Jens himself. The name "meiLi" is short for "Mein Licht" (German for 'my light'). "I just wanted to build my own lamp," Jens explains with a smile. He cut all his first sketches and prototypes with a panel saw, trimmed and planed them. Then he routed the grooves for the LED lights and the acrylic glass with the Festool OF 2200 router and finally sanded the surfaces with the ETS EC 150/5 EQ-GQ eccentric sander. The acrylic glass was cut with a laser cutter at the Hafven FabLab. "Once I had decided on a shape, I experimented with different types of wood: Maple, ash, even walnut and oak. The first finished frames were routed on our CNC router," Jens explains. And Nikolai adds: "We loved the design so much that we worked with Jens to completely equip one of our co-working rooms with these lamps."
Building your own table football set? Why not!
By now, a small crowd has gathered in the workshop; today they are going to build a table football table in celebration of Hafven's first anniversary. Festool application specialists Sascha Pickart and Tom Meisinger are also here. Both have already successfully completed several table football sets – and therefore know exactly which wooden elements and tools they need. A little while later, they are ready to go: One of the visitors starts routing the two goals with the OF 1400 and OF 1200 routers while being guided by the professionals. The wooden elements, multiplex boards between 19 and 28 millimetres thick, were chosen to be particularly robust, as the table has to withstand football matches that can sometimes get particularly animated.
It's all about teamwork
Sascha and Tom divide the different table components between them: Tom continues routing the joints for attaching the sides of the goal with the DOMINO DF 500 Q-Plus joining machine. Then he glues the different components together. In the meantime, Sascha is routing the side and head sections of the playing area with the OF 1400 and OF 1200 routers. Any dust is extracted with the CTM 36 mobile dust extractor. Then they screw all components into place with the PDC 18/4. They use the DF 500 joining machine to rout the joints for the DOMINO dowels and connect all the different components. After nearly five hours of work, the time has finally come: The first football matches are being played on the Festool table. Unfortunately, our visit to this engaging makerspace has to come to an end – and after a narrow 6:4 defeat against Nikolai and Pauline, we say goodbye to Hafven.
