Lasercutting has become quite popular in the fashion world recently. But there’s only one place in Austin that allows you to get on a lasercutting machine yourself and make whatever your creative heart desires. It’s like a DIY’s dream come true! Kristen von Minden and Eve Trester-Wilson opened up their MAKEatx workshop on the East side of Austin less than a year ago, but have already garnered a trusty group of regular lasercutting members, as well as frequent buyers of their MAKEatx creations. Coming from architectural backgrounds, Kristen and Eve both discovered the joy of lasercutting during grad school when lasercutting machines had recently become a standard tool for making architectural models. Kristen says she started paying close attention to all the fun things her fellow GSD grad students were making with the machines outside of school, including cards and jewelry.
The instant result of lasercutting is what Kristen says drew her attention away from architecture and on to more crafty ventures. “The thing I find most exciting about working in our shop is having the ability to see a design project evolve from initial concept to prototype to final product in a matter of minutes.” Eve added that with architecture projects, there’s so much uncertainty and a lack of control that goes along with something you design. In contrast, at the MAKEatx studio you have the control to turn your vision into the exact result you want.
While they started their business off slowly by cutting simple greeting cards, the MAKEatx girls have since developed more intricately designed products including jewelry consisting of both wooden and fabric pieces, elaborate paper cards worthy of framing, and more funky products like their popular “mistaken lyrics coasters.” Kristen and Eve admit that they come up with new ideas for products much faster than they can actually produce them. The possibilities are seemingly endless, and Kristen says the only limitation with making lasercut products is the material. But, that hasn’t stopped them from experimenting. The girls once lasercut a mustache into a pumpkin during Halloween! One of the most creative and fashionable examples of the use of their lasercutting workshop, was done by recent UT fashion graduate Katrina Raz for the UT fashion show. Katrina used the MAKEatx workshop to not only lasercut intricate patterns into her fabric, but she paid close attention to detail by lasercutting sayings like “keep calm and carry on” into each button!
photo by: Patrick Meredith
Check out our photos of the MAKEatx workshop and some of the fun products MAKEatx has to offer, and keep reading to see how you can get involved in lasercutting at MAKEatx:
Mistaken lyric coaster example: “Like a virgin, touched for the 31st time.”
MAKEatx jewelry can be found in local stores all over Austin including Parts and Labour, Flock, Sanctuary, ATown, and Eastside Supply Company to name a few. You can also shop their online store which has links to the really rad Etsy stores of MAKEatx members as well (my favorite being Steve Mattern who created a decoy iPhone, the “iPhoney“, for his baby to chew on.) If you are itching to learn how to laser cut yourself or become a MAKEatx member, you can sign up for a class to learn how to use their laser cutting machine which they have dubbed “Patty Princess of Power”. The creative possibilities are endless with Patty’s help, and from one visit to the workshop I am already dreaming up tons of laser cutting ideas!
MAKEatx workshop is located on the East side at 1109 B Shady Lane, Studio 1.
Joanna Wilkinson
Keep Austin Stylish