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Did you get that enormous, weighty Restoration Hardware catalog (I mean “magazine”) about a month ago? Heavy as the heaviest September Vogue?  Maybe you noticed in there a giant feature spread on their new lighting designer,  “Oakland Oilpunk,” blacksmith Jon Sarriugarte.

Or maybe you saw The Avengers, Brave, War Horse, The Incredibles, TRON Legacy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Peter Pan, HULK or Lord of the Rings?  Then award-winning Skywalker Sound sound editor/sound designer Kyrsten Mate might ring a bell if you are in the local movie biz or a film credit junkie.

Better yetmaybe you went to Burning Man over the last 5+ years and saw the Serpent Twins, the Golden Mean snail car, or the Electrobite Olenoides?

Kyrsten Mate and Jon Sarriugarte are the dynamic power maker couple behind these extraordinary art cars.  They do these projects with (talented) friends on top of holding demanding day jobs and being parents to their Zolie Mae.

Their combined aesthetic prowess and extreme craftsmanship—along with the strength of their greater team—result in just plain stunning projects.  Come meet Jon and Kyrsten at 2PM in the Studio One Theater, see more of their work, hear some great stories… and get inspired!

Jillian Northrup and Jeffrey McGrew are Because We Can, a full service design studio in Oakland that specializes in architecture, interiors and “fantastical things”.  Even though they are a very small team, they are able to do digital design all the way through fabrication because they are leveraging a new class of affordable yet advanced tools like the ShopBot, a computer-controlled router for fabricating with wood, plastic, aluminum & more.

If you’re someone who loves visual design, but has never ventured into physical making because power tools are a tad bit intimidating, come to Jillian and Jeffrey’s workshop presentation at East Bay Mini Maker Faire, “Using Digital Fabrication to Change the World: Empowerment Through Automated Tools.”   Jillian herself comes from a graphic design background, but found her way to making physical structures through output of digital files to these computer-controlled tools.  Jillian and Jeffrey (the other half of Because We Can, an architect) will explain  how this new class of mills, routers, lasercutters, and even 3D printers can empower you to change the world for the better, turn a hobby into a business, and make the world a more interesting place.

A good example of Because We Can’s process is this tail for The Serpent Twins, a 2011 Burning Man electric art car/sculpture.  Jillian is holding a prototype she fabbed using their ShopBot in the first picture below; scroll down to see how it translated to full-scale in sheet metal.

Because We Can actually has a great post documenting in detail the process they went through for the Serpent Twins—check it out.

Keep watching ebmakerfaire.com for the full schedule of workshops and talks.  Come to their presentation, and look for Because We Can’s “Big Trike” at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire on October 16th.