Richard Podsada

Director

I’ve been a maker from from as young as I can remember. I loved drawing as a kid, and I loved technology—electronics, robots, machines, jets, and eventually computers. I used to take apart all of my toys how they work. When I got a new radio for Christmas, I desoldered every component from the PCB of the old one and sorted all the parts into bins (fortunately they have robots for that now.) That’s also around the time I discovered electrolytic capacitors make a great firecracker when plugged into the wall, and where doing such things inside of your bedroom is not a good idea. In case I didn’t mention this yet, I was also good at ‘making’ my parent’s lives miserable. 🙂

This pattern has followed me throughout my life. I love working with my hands. I love building things. And I love improvising and coming up with solutions to physical problems. From how to build a perfect subwoofer box to turning a motorcycle into a bobber to building a computer. Maybe fixing a broken fridge fan with a piece of rubber from a bungee cord. It doesn’t really matter what it is, it engages my mind and puts a fire in my belly.

But like most people, I don’t have the kind of tools and equipment I need to act on some of my bigger or more fun ideas. Prototypes for new products, or experiments with robotics. I don’t have 220V in my garage or a 200A supply to my house. Nor do I have a 20CFM air compressor or the ventilation needed to weld safely in my garage. So it got me thinking… I don’t need to own these things. I just need access to them. Better yet, what if there was a way everybody could access these tools? And thus I opened up Google Docs, and hammered out what became the initial idea for a makerspace in Grande Prairie.