At first glance, Helen Scott, Joe Bertrand, and Mike Sacchetta form an unlikely triumvirate.
Scott has degrees in law and business, and has applied her legal expertise to social justice work for the last decade. Bertrand has a degree in social science and is on the cusp of retirement from a 30-year career in the civil service. Sacchetta holds a degree in music and a diploma in sound engineering, and built his own 3-D printer out of parts when one couldn’t be had in Sault Ste. Marie.
Yet, together, the trio is embarking on Maker North, a new type of incubator and creative space seeking to support entrepreneurs and contribute to a sustainable economy.
“We have very few overlapping skills, but we fit together like a puzzle, and between us, we have all the skills we need to do this,” Scott said.
The three partners had been providing 3-D printing, design and prototyping services from their respective homes, but as demand increased, the pace of work quickly outstripped room to operate.
They’ve designed and manufactured marketing products for organizations like Algoma University and Algoma Workforce Investment Corp., who had keychains printed as giveaways for events, and they’ve printed illusion puzzles for Science North in Sudbury. They’ve also created a number of prototypes for clients with unique ideas.
Gerry Richard, who invented the ‘Marbite,’ a kind of wall hook that employs a marble set in to wood to hold up towels, approached the group to help him design a plastic variation on his bestseller.
“We helped him do the design and the prototyping to build the plastic version, and worked with him to finesse the prototype to the point where he could take it to a funder and get the moulds made and start producing it through injection moulding,” Scott said.
The Marbite now sells in Home Hardware stores across the country.
Conversation buzzing through the Sault Ste. Marie business community had been centred on the need for a maker space for some time, but the rate of development for the idea was “excruciating,” Scott said.
Since she and her partners needed more room anyway, they decided to expand into a space that would meet both their needs and those of the community, inclusive of small and large businesses, tinkerers, inventors, and those who simply wanted a creative outlet to try new things.
Located just off the downtown core, in the same building that houses the city’s Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, the 4,300-square-foot space is being transformed in time for a May opening.
When operational, it will feature a 3-D printer, laser cutters, CNC machines, and a milling machine, in addition to a woodworking shop, a photography studio, an artists' space for drawing and painting, and a sewing and crafting area. The partners are even looking into adding a virtual reality setup to the mix.
Users gain access by purchasing one of three membership levels: a day pass, a month’s membership, or a year’s subscription. Upon their first visit, users must undergo a run-through on safety certification, safety equipment, and the proper use of the machines, Scott said.
“From there, people are free to experiment on their own and figure it out, and we’ll be offering workshops and lessons as well, where people can come in and learn whatever skill is being offered at that point,” she said.
Maker North has been designed as a malleable space so that gear can be swapped out as interest in different activities ebbs and flows. And there’s plenty of room to grow, Scott added.
To start, users will have access to Maker North from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week, but the goal is to eventually be open 24 hours a day. Scott, Bertrand and Sacchetta will continue to offer their services as designers and prototypers, and the goal is to have two full-time workers and between one and three part-time employees by the fall.
The Sault is home to a strong small-business sector but the entrepreneurial spirit is too often thwarted by a lack of resources, Scott said. So, the partners want to disrupt old business models in favour of what they see as the new wave of job creation.
Under this model, data becomes the central part of the business, Bertrand said.
“We’re going to be the point of the spear for this transition out of the old economy into a digital economy,” he said.
“We’re just going to bring in the tools that will allow that digitization to happen here locally.
“So, manufacturing is going to be disrupted through additive manufacturing and this additive manufacturing is going to be the basis on which this maker space is built.”
Eventually, Maker North hopes to expand into bioplastics – a type of plastic derived from sources that are renewable and biodegradable, such as corn starch, vegetable fat and cellulose.
“The maker space itself is not going to employ 150 people, but our next stage is advanced manufacturing on a larger scale, and that very well could employ those kinds of numbers of people,” Scott said.
“So, for us, it’s a vision for a positive economy, a place where health and safety isn’t trumped by a dollar and where people can get next-generation skills and they can be involved in something that is creative and productive, positive.”
