The fascinating world that is Maker Faire will open its doors in New York City this weekend. Since its founding in San Francisco in 2006, the self-proclaimed "greatest show-and-tell in the world," has been bringing together designers, tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, engineers, science clubs, artists, students—just about any and everyone driven toward invention. Since navigating the aisles of this "part science fair, part country fair" can be nothing short of bewildering, we're introducing you to three stand-out projects that express the fair's celebration of making.

Dynamism of A Hand Waving - 3dTrio

Enter a caption (optional)

Enter a caption (optional)

Created for Eyebeam's Computational Fashion Master Class—a workshop interrogating the intersection of technology and fashion—this sculptural dress cites the silhouettes of Cristobal Balenziaga as a reference, but it could never have been created with traditional draping methods.

The team was inspired by the workings of the Jacquard machine, a loom developed in 1801 which used punch cards to structure a series of operations. These machines were an important precedent for the first computers and the team explored how the same logic of weaving structures can now be manipulated and transformed with the use of digital technologies and 3D printing. "These powerful tools allow infinite possibilities to manipulate the warp and weft, in x, y and z—all 3 dimensions," they said.

The asymmetric form arose from a motion study of a hand moving through space. 3D printed in white nylon, the team agrees that this probably won't be the most comfortable thing in anyone's closet, but they consider that further research will make 3D printing a viable solution for some of the problems facing the fashion industry, like material waste and a way to approach mass customization.

Solar Crafting - Team Neiro

Enter a caption (optional)

Enter a caption (optional)

Enter a caption (optional)

Last May, NASA announced their Centennial Challenge and asked entrants to design a system for developing 3D printable habitats on the surface of Mars. The selected finalists will enter the next stage of the contest at this weekend's Maker Faire, when they will be tasked with creating a full-scale prototype of their idea.

One of the finalists, Solar Crafting, is a fantastic yet practical proposal. The project proposes the use of a hot air balloon to house a 3D-printer's extruder. The large balloon would collect sunlight and focus it into a highly-concentrated solar energy beam, sintering the printing materials into a solid object, layer by layer. This would create the structure's outer dome, which would be combined with two other elements, a structural central core inserted during the printing process, and a Living Space Module, an inflatable shell creating the final, uncontaminated and pressurized living space.

This fascinating process would eliminate the need to send any building materials to Mars, allowing the creation of an entire colony of habitats made by sun and sand.

WildGrid - Krystal Persaud and Hirumi Nanayakkara

Enter a caption (optional)

Enter a caption (optional)

Wildgrid is a project about finding ways of moving off the grid by capturing the untapped power in the elements that surround us. "We get most of our electricity from plugging into a socket on the wall, but there is so much energy that is unused! Bacteria, heat, motion, and sunlight just to name a few," explain the designers.

The designers, both of whom explore the power of DIY electronics in their day jobs at littleBits, presented early prototypes at MakerFaire last year. The project was met with much enthusiasm from visitors who were invited to charge their phones at the booth and see first-hand the power contained within simple dirt. Since then, the team has focused on refining the idea through research and optimizing the product's user experience. "Our first focus is extracting power from the microbes in soil. Our immediate goal is to use electricity in soil to charge cellular phones and we are currently researching the most efficient way to harvest electricity from organic matter."