Jigsaw Renaissance is a learning and making community. Sprung out of the heads of transhumanist Willow Brugh, film maker Ben Dobyns, visionary Lion Kimbro, traceuse Janine Cundy, ice cream man Rob Gardiner, and cybernetician Joshua Madara; the organization started in fall of 2009. With mentorship and organizational support through The School Factory and James Carlson, we quickly got on our feet. We moved into our first space in January of 2010, into a bigger one in April, and are currently looking for an even better space to suit our growing needs. Our 50 members gather at the space for events like Random Hacks of Kindness, CyborgCamp, and Dorkbot.
We don't just teach each other, though, we also open our doors to the community with classes like Wearable Electronics, Knit Nite, Bonsai with Powertools, Zombie Preparedness, and Soldering and Coding on Wednesdays. We're currently working with Pinehurst K-8 (previously Alternative School 1) in the Seattle public school system to hold Field Trip Fridays, and are working on establishing closer ties to local colleges like University of Washington and Seattle University. Jigsaw has also been mentioned as a prime example of the future of education in America.
Jigsaw isn't just about education, though. Many of our members make their living out of the space - Journey Quest was fully edited at Jigsaw, Va-Va-Vroom uses Jigsaw as its home base, and Yarn-N-Ink works are hung to dry on the racks at Jigsaw. We've also participated in other challenges before - shipping a resin-encased cupcake to All Hands Active in Ann Arbor, and currently bringing in the last of the Sticker Exchange to be sent back out to spaces all over the world.
We're incredibly excited to be participating in the Great Global Hackerspace Challenge, and thank Element14 for the opportunity. Our core team includes Budi Mulyo, H+ and Android enthusiast; James Gray, grad student at UW's HITLab; Ned Konz, embedded systems creator; Lawrence Leung, software engineer; Willow Brugh, director of Jigsaw; Bergen McMurray, technology instructor at Pinehurst, and more!