FS Connects: Tour of the MIT Hobby Shop

Join us for this fun and educa­tional, virtual tour of The Hobby Shop at the Mass­a­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­nol­ogy (MIT) with TFS member Hayami Arakawa, Direc­tor of The Hobby Shop. Hayami will talk about the history of the shop, how it’s evolved and grown over the years, and all the tools avail­able to make some cool stuff! 

The MIT Hobby Shop is a collab­o­ra­tive work­space where all members of the MIT Commu­nity, regard­less of skill level, access well-main­tained tools, machines and expert guidance.

In the 1937 – 38 acad­e­mic year, Vannevar Bush, then-Vice Pres­i­dent of MIT, granted a group of 16 MIT students’ permis­sion to use a room in the base­ment of Build­ing 2. With equip­ment they found around the Insti­tute, they set up a wood and metal shop in the 16 x 22-foot area. The club members chose the name ​“Hobby Shop” based on their belief in the philos­o­phy that the well-rounded indi­vid­ual pursued inter­ests outside their profes­sion — hobbies.

For MIT students, hobbies involved making things, and with their imag­i­na­tions and talents, a well-equipped shop opened to limit­less possi­bil­i­ties. The orig­i­nal Hobby Shop consti­tu­tion stated that the shop was only to be used by students for non-acad­e­mic work. The shop oper­ated as a club with a student foreman and members start­ing as appren­tices and progress­ing to jour­ney­men, and finally, master crafts­men. Over the years, the Hobby Shop has expanded its mission and member­ship to meet the needs of a new gener­a­tion of students, faculty, staff, alumni. 

Today the Hobby Shop is run by Hayami Arakawa, who arrived at MIT in 2006. As direc­tor, Hayami has helped to grow the Hobby Shop’s robust member­ship, ushered in the next gener­a­tion of MIT makers, and over­sees the day to day ongo­ings of the shop in our brand new, glass enclosed space on Mass­a­chu­setts Avenue, at the site of the old MIT Museum.

Full history can be found at: https://​studentlife​.mit​.edu/​c​a​m​p​u​s​-​c​o​m​m​u​n​i​t​i​e​s​/​h​o​b​b​y​-​shop/