Throughout several past seasons of Make48 competitions, the Tool Techs have been the ‘secret sauce’ and the teams' biggest cheerleaders at our 48-hour events. Tool Techs are a crew of makers, influencers and entrepreneurs from the community and from past events. This group of talented professionals volunteer their time to help teams prototype their ideas using a variety of fabrication skills such as 3d printing, laser cutting, cnc machining, textiles, welding/metalwork and many more.
Meet one of our tool techs from the GoCreate-Make48 ‘22 event, David Fowler. We first met David when he competed alongside his son Matt and friends on the ICT Design Team at the 2021 competition. As the owner of Fowler Woodworking, David specializes in designing and building quality, hand-custom furniture from top to bottom. They’re recognized for their curved range hoods (seen below), furniture, clocks, custom hand saws and workshop classes.
A Wichita native who loves the creative process, David’s education spans from Wichita State University to upstate New York at Rochester University. After graduating, David worked with the prolific artist Wendell Castle, an American sculptor and furniture maker, for almost 10 years.
David has a long history with GoCreate makerspace. Prior to GoCreate’s launch, Meredith Olsen, VP of Community Affairs for Koch Industries, spoke with David and his business partner about the initial plans of opening a makerspace. Meredith and Koch Industries had plans to bring a makerspace to WSU and asked David and his partner’s advice on a few issues of what GoCreate should have and how it should be laid out. Once the space was open to the community in 2017, David became one of the original mentors. He is currently the senior woodshop mentor at GoCreate.
A maker, builder and published author in multiple woodworking magazines, David has a variety of fabrication skills. They include: Woodworking, Metal machinery (Mill) and other high-level fabrication tools. He has also served as the President of the Sunflower Woodworkers Guild, a Wichita woodworking community. David loves what he does, from creating, innovating and building, and anything that keeps the craft alive in his hometown.
Visit David Fowler Woodworking on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/davidfowlerwoodworking/
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