FabLab Fabulous St. Pauli

Fabulous St. Pauli e.V. is the first Fab Lab in Hamburg and part of a network of about 600 „Fabrication Laboratories“ worldwide. These are community workshops for new computer controlled machines like 3D printers, laser-cutters and CNC milling machines. The concept was invented by Neil Gershenfeld, director of the Center for Bits & Atoms at MIT, in 1998.

The goal is to provide tools and access for all to a digital production that has been confined to factories until then. And to establish a space in which people can learn together and teach each other the basics of digital production in a casual way. By that Gershenfeld sought to overcome the „fabrication divide“ that has shaped industrial societies for a long time, similar to the relatively new „digital divide“ of the information age that got more attention: the gap between those who have access and those who have not.