Engineering is logical, Art is intuitive. Making fuses both!
Shashank Lakshman
Making is a combination of two worlds, engineering and art! Making takes the simplest tools of engineering and art, fuse ideas to derive the most meaningful and innovative solutions.
I’ve been into making for a few years now, mainly romancing on the fringes of engineering and art; playing with open-source hardware and hacking with open-source software. Over the last couple of years, many people have asked me regarding the thought-process behind making. It is something about which I have thought quite often, yet comprehend too little. I find that there is more to discover with every new experience I achieve as a maker. In this tiny post, I will share the broadest picture of a maker, delving into the ‘Psychology of a maker’. I will share the 5 commandments of what makes a maker!
1) Think creatively: The greatest quality of a maker is ‘creativity’. While most of today’s engineering is driven more by logical decision making and art is driven more by intuitive decision making, ‘making’ derives both ideas into itself. A strong imagination and a creative mindset is critical to become a maker. Making is ‘delimiting oneself from constraints and thinking beyond the possible, all while remaining practical’. So, let go of the mind free and ‘making’ commences!
2) Zero inhibition: While engineering is inhibited by business decision making and art is inhibited by cultural norms or social prejudices, making carries no ‘bundles of burden’. Making is liberated from either bounds and hence, making is a zero inhibition activity. A true maker makes for the sake of it, and not merely to please others!
3) Timeless expression: Makers often exhibit contemporary ideas in facets from a different era. This makes making an activity of timeless human expression. To fuse ideas from different backgrounds, to merge materials from different sources and to coalesce sciences with the arts is the very essence of modern making.
4) Love the dark: Often makers are people who enjoy hacking into or breaking into stuff – physical and virtual. They love the dark, the unknown and the unseen. It does not scare them away, but it only kindles their inner child. Makers are ready to make assumptions, are not afraid of making mistakes. This sets them free, making them practical critical thinkers and pragmatic problem solvers.
5) Brave the struggle: Makers often seem to create wonderful things in a moment. People hardly notice the toil and suffering that the makers go through to arrive there. Their creative struggle is hardly appreciated. Yet, makers love the struggle. Struggle makes one try harder, try often, fail for sure, think creatively and succeed at the end! So, the makers ‘make to fail’ and finally ‘succeed to make’!
If one aspires to become a maker, these five qualities have to become their very constitution!
“It is human to consume, it is divine to make!”
Shashank Lakshman
