Arieann DeFazio and Jamie Bartlett want to build confidence in makers and engineers. Arieann founded Kitables and has been developing kits for makers to build experience for the last few years. Kitables’ current project is the Monthly DIY Kit, currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
DeFazio answered some questions for us about the origin and development of these kits. She said that the maker industry is set up for users aged 18 and under, but learning should never stop. Thirty five year old women should have a mindset that when a printer breaks they should crack it open and fix it, not walk away and make it someone else’s problem. Building confidence will let us problem solve and do more things in a better way. She doesn’t expect people to go from sitting on the couch to taking apart a car engine but hopes that these kits will be steps toward more competent and confident makers.
Developing the products has come with challenges and one of the major challenges is logistics, sourcing metals from South America, and laser cut wood pieces from local job shops. The biggest challenge is optimizing the difficulty in any one kit. Making something a challenge that builds confidence but also comes with a non-threatening amount of struggle for people between the ages of eight and eighty is a consistent trial.
If time, money and resources were no issue DeFazio said she’d like to build an electric truck, citing her desire to be a ‘redneck hippie’. In a professional sense Kitables will ideally someday be a batch sourcing hub for entrepreneurs and engineers. When people have so much confidence that they’ve internalized engineering and making and are developing and offering their own products Arieann will feel like her long term goals are met.
The first three months of the Kitables Monthly DIY Kit are a Bluetooth speaker, a Ukulele kit, and a Molecular Gastronomy kit. Future offerings might revolve around woodworking, modern design, robotics, aviation, electronics or geology. The campaign ends on July 27 with first monthly units expected to ship in October 2017.