Makerspaces are places where people can create, invent and learn using different tools, materials and machines. Phoenix Forge is a makerspace run by GateWay Community College and it’s open to students and the public.
The description often used for Phoenix Forge is that it’s like a gym membership. But instead of treadmills, weights and basketball, you have saws, laser cutters and sewing machines.
“You can be as experimental and creative as you want,” Tyree Evans said while preparing to cut wood for a nightstand.
He’s also used the wood shop to build shelves for a local restaurant and design a chair as part of his upcoming furniture collection. As a college student, Evans gets free access to the space.
“There was a point in time when I was spending more time here than at home because that’s what I needed,” he said.
Evans has explored almost every corner: from jewelry, textiles and electronics to digital design, 3D printers and metals.
“The metal shop here has pretty much everything you need for working with ferrous metals, copper, aluminum,” said community engagement manager Lucas Anderson.
Phoenix Forge offers two monthly memberships: $75 for individuals and $150 for small businesses with up to four users.
“We always have staff on to help you learn as you go or troubleshoot through a challenge or just maybe hang out and talk about making stuff,” Anderson said.
In addition to memberships, they offer specialty classes, like ring making.
"You’re learning to cut and bend and solder and attach a base plate and mount to stone. It only takes a couple classes to get to that place, it takes a lot of hours to get good at it, but you can make something in really only about four hours of class time," Anderson said.
Kate Benjamin makes all kinds of things related to cats.
“Toys for cats, bed, scratchers, and then fun things for cat lovers, anything that kind of busts the crazy cat lady stereotype,” she said.
Benjamin has her own design studio but not the space or money for a 3D printer or laser cutter she can use at Phoenix Forge.
I think that it’s taken my creativity to a whole new level.Kate Benjamin
“I think that it’s taken my creativity to a whole new level,” she said. “I like the idea of making things that are unique, that are handmade, especially when small businesses are competing with, you know, the big companies and the big factories from overseas, you want to offer something unique to your customers.”
“Overall, we've got about a little over a million dollars worth of equipment in here,” said Executive Director Bruce Balfour.
He said they’re working with a local non-profit to offer an industrial sewing certification that would open the door for apprentices in the fashion industry and they’re talking with a local company that makes hot-forged industrial fasteners for mining equipment.
“And they want to do some basic training for their forging staff that they want to hire to get them some experience and so we can do that kind of thing in our metal shop and get them exposure to that and then they can teach kind of a limited curriculum in that space themselves if they want to,” Balfour said.
Plans are underway to maximize untapped space at their Seventh Avenue and Van Buren Street location by adding a glass blowing studio, observation window and coffee shop.
“The idea is to get us more integrated with the community, so it’ll bring people in,” Balfour said.
This summer, Phoenix Forge will host its first market where makers can display their products. It’s perfect timing for Tyree Evans to launch his furniture collection.
“I don't think I've really would have thought like about making an assembly line of products if it weren't for, you know, the availability of prototyping it with 3D printing first, or using some of the scrap woods they have in the woodshop to kind of just throw something together or just bouncing ideas off of other creatives that are also members at the Forge. I mean, that's been pivotal to the process for me,” he said.
Phoenix Forge will host a free open-shop night on Friday, June 21. Visitors can register in advance to use some of the most popular tools and equipment, including sewing machines and saws, 3D printers and laser cutters.
Balfour said the idea for Phoenix Forge came from Dr. Steven R. Gonzales, chancellor of Maricopa Community Colleges, when he was president of GateWay Community College. With support from Arizona State University, the city of Phoenix, APS and others, the 23,000-square-foot building underwent a $6 million renovation before opening in February 2021.
KJZZ is licensed to the Maricopa County Community College District.
