Getting Creative at FashionZone’s Hack’n’Talk

We spent our Canada Day long weekend with some amazing teams of fast-thinking, innovative entrepreneurs, researchers, designers, and developers at the Hack’n’Talk at FashionZone, Ryerson University’s incubator for fashion-focused companies and entrepreneurs.

It wasn’t a surprise to see our friends at HackerNest there – having organized countless hackathons all around the world, they are the gurus of geek. But instead of doing a more rigid style of hackathon, Hack’n’Talk used the problem-solving format of a hackathon and combined it with fun, hands-on workshops and inspirational talks. It was like a bootcamp for innovation. And we were one of the fearless generals leading the charge.

Wearable tech is a big topic, but the “talk” part of the Hack’n’Talk helped break it down for the participants. Biying gave a talk about some of our creative projects, and we were lucky enough to be presenting with the inestimable Tom Emrich from We Are Wearables, among other talented folks.

But then it was time for the hackers to get their hands dirty. There were workshops built around coding (with Ray Kao of People & Code), product design (with the lovely Anna Zissou of Cynefin), and prototyping that gave the attendees new skills to work with. Cue Hot Pop. We can’t get enough of prototypes!

We love working with creative visionaries to make their laser cutting, laser engraving and 3D printing ideas reality, and at Hack’n’Talk we had the chance to teach an intensive version of our 3D printing workshops, educating the participants on the freedoms and constraints of working within 3D modelling programs and showing them the endless creative applications of laser cutting.

Our students took this knowledge to heart and created some amazing prototypes for their projects. Trial and error at the 3D printers and creative laser cutting in downtown Toronto at our Queen and Spadina studio made them focus their ingenuity and resulted in some great final products.

We had a blast working with these creative adventurers, and if you have the chance, definitely keep an eye on these cool, young companies. We’re sure you’ll see more of them!