MakerWalk LA Offers a Behind-the-Scenes Look at Manufacturing and Innovation in the DTLA Arts District – Friday, May 31, 2019
The DTLA Arts District is packed with cutting-edge technology, entertainment, and manufacturing companies, but most of the work they do happens behind closed doors. On Friday, May 31, from 1pm–6pm, MAKE IT IN LA is hosting MakerWalk LA, a special event where these businesses will invite the public inside and share their work through tours, tastings, workshops, and demos.
Tech entrepreneur Krisztina ‘Z’ Holly is “Chief Instigator” at MAKE IT IN LA, a nonprofit organization that builds connectivity between local entrepreneurs and manufacturers through community, online resources, and educational events. They held the first MakerWalk LA in 2017, and they’re excited to bring it back this year. Holly says, “It’s a way of celebrating the manufacturing and creative ecosystem we have in L.A. and giving people a behind-the-scenes look, and kind of a sneak peek into what the future of manufacturing looks like.”
What makes the Arts District the perfect location for a MakerWalk? “It’s a place in transition that has a vast diversity of creatives from very different backgrounds,” says Holly, adding, “More manufacturing is going on in Los Angeles than most people realize. What’s so cool about L.A. is that all of these different industries—entertainment, tech, the creative industries, design, food, fashion, transportation—are intersecting in an interesting way. Two Bit Circus is the perfect example. It’s the intersection of tech and entertainment and gaming in a micro amusement park.”
Two Bit Circus will be offering behind-the-scenes tours during this year’s event. Other new MakerWalk additions include Angel City Lumber, an urban lumber mill that takes trees that are downed in the city out of the waste stream, Scale 1:1, an innovative contemporary furniture company, and the immersive art park Wisdome LA, where the tour will cover both how the domes were built and how they create the media that displays inside.
Cartwheel Art will be participating again with a special tour. Steve Grody, graffiti historian, documentarian, and author of Graffiti LA, will lead a graffiti and street art tour of the neighborhood. Participants will learn about the history of graffiti in Los Angeles and view some of the graffiti and street art pieces that make the DTLA Arts District so colorful.
Join us on Friday, May 31, for this unique chance to peek behind the scenes at such companies as Green Bar Distillery, Oblong Industries, Soylent Innovation Labs, COMUNITYmade, Angel City Brewery, Virgin Hyperloop One, The Spirit Guild, and Lala Land Production & Design. View the full list of MakerWalk LA participants.
View highlights from the first MakerWalk LA:
To learn more about local makers, listen to MAKE IT IN LA’s weekly podcast, The Art of Manufacturing, which Z Holly hosts. She says, “It’s a behind-the-scenes look at entrepreneurs and pioneers who are “making it” in their industries. We’re about to launch a new season this summer.”
MakerWalk LA tickets are free with RSVP. VIP tickets ($75) include priority access to limited-space tours, a gift bag of locally made products, and admission to the private afterparty.