Established in 2015, Wheel Thing Makers is a non-profit community formed by a group of makers, innovators and enthusiasts for Wheel of Things (WoT). Their fabrication shop located in To Kwa Wan, a place with local community value in Hong Kong. By advocating the spirit of “Community of Practice”, on one hand they create bike-liked objects with functions for the communities.

Rejuvenate The Maker’s Spirit in Hong Kong 

Leading by Paddy Ng, a social planner and green bicycle inventor, Gary Chan , the aim of Wheel Thing Makers was very simple in  the beginning: just to encourage more Hongkongers to take up cycling. While the longer they spent hanging out in To Kwa Wan, the more they realised they could do much more than just make bikes – they could also use their skills to help local residents. Since then they shoulder a mission to support and promote WoT via teaching, learning and practicing of design and fabrication in terms of bike creation as well as empowering creative local individuals to give form from their ideas.

 

“This community has provided us with a lot of raw materials – old car tyres, among other things. We usually test our products in the neighbourhood and some of these creations have ended up being very popular among the community. Locals now contact us if they have waste materials, knowing that we can perhaps come up with something that will help them,” Ng says. (Quoted from SCMP)

Along the years, they have been engaged in projects like City Dress Up, Maker’s Flair Hong Kong by creation of a joint planning bicycle into the community project of the creative process , a means of innovation and community education , the creation of dedicated bicycle -related and share with the community, experience , innovation and reflect the different social significance.

Where there is a will, there is always a way to make things happen – with our hands. People in Hong Kong used to be makers in 70s-90s. We look forward that they could recall this spirit via the social experiment and work out a business model for a mixture of pragmatic and creative community.

Source of Information: Wheel Thing Makers