A little past the intersection of Packers and Commercial avenues, on the former Oscar Mayer plant campus, there’s a long brick building. From the outside, it looks like any other nondescript structure you might find in a business district. But when you step inside, a world of creativity awaits.
The Bodgery, a makerspace established in 2014, has called the location home since 2019. John Eich, one of the four co-founders, says The Bodgery started out as a social club for makers, and then the founders decided to establish a physical space. Over the past eight years, The Bodgery has moved three times, after starting with a space smaller than 1,000 square feet. The second location tripled the original size to 3,400 square feet, their current location bumped them up to 14,000 and a recent expansion further increased their footprint to 21,500 square feet.
“It’s been an incredible ride,” Eich says.
Walking through the space, you’ll see that each area is devoted to specializations, and you never know who will be there making something. You start in the craft meadow, where you’ll find sofas and chairs, a meeting table, sewing machines, a vinyl cutter, a cast-iron book press and all of the crafting supplies of your dreams. Continuing left, you’ll find a classroom with a few small studios, including one for a locksmithing company that creates smart locks.
Through another set of doors, you’ll step inside the wood shop, which is the largest area at The Bodgery. The room has all the tools woodworkers might ever need and likely couldn’t store on their own.
There are studios for woodworkers, plus spaces for metal fabrication, screenprinting and bicycle repair. Everywhere you turn, you’ll find materials and tools, or products made by one of the nearly 470 makers who use the studio on a part-time or full-time basis. In its latest, 21,500-square-foot location they call the Annex, The Bodgery has even more shared spaces for stained glass, leatherworking, jewelry, laser-cutting, ceramics and more.
Members make guitars, costumes, leather wallets, cast-iron sculptures, broaches, canoes and laser-cut games. One maker crafts self-watering moss globes.
“It’s a creative space where everything you need to fulfill your creative ambitions is available,” says Jim Fortner, the wood shop area co-captain.
The Bodgery operates as a nonprofit with a board and an area-captain system, which has been in place since its humble beginnings. The captains manage their specific areas and assist Bodgery members.
Fortner has been involved for about five years since he moved to Wisconsin and sold his wood shop after retiring. He says he felt lost without a wood shop while living in an apartment.
“It wasn’t much five years ago; it was pretty pitiful compared to what we have today,” Fortner says. “Nonetheless, I thought it was a great place. … I loved the vibe.”
Eich, who makes a bit of everything, says the organization started as a very small community, but as time has passed, they’ve gained more space and more members.
The Bodgery aims to be a less expensive and more inclusive place for makers. “We thought, wouldn’t it be great if there was a space for the part-time makers or the hobbyists, the tinkerers? And while we do have a lot of the full-time, pro makers, we have tried to create a model where the part-timers are always welcome,” Eich says.
The Bodgery is funded through membership fees and donations — it has never received city, state or federal funding — and Eich says they bootstrapped everything themselves. The fees are $50 a month for members, with discounts for low-income individuals, seniors and students. The rate gives members 24/7 access to the space and to all the tools.
While those are two perks, for Fortner and other members, the true benefit is learning from others in the community that The Bodgery has created.
“You can bounce ideas off everybody, and that really aids the creative process, gets the juices flowing. You see what other people can do,” Fortner says. “They’ll take the time to stop and show you how they did it.”
All 470-some members use the messaging app Slack to communicate with each other and post about problems they’re having, which usually leads to creative solutions from the group. There’s constant communication among members to educate, mentor, problem-solve and collaborate.
The Bodgery is open for public tours and Q&A sessions every Friday night. Eich says people consistently want to learn, but they can only provide events to educate members and the public on a variety of artistic projects when people volunteer to host workshops.
The Bodgery is managed through a volunteer system. “There’s some people who put an enormous amount of time and energy into keeping the place going,” Fortner says. “These unsung heroes are peppered throughout The Bodgery.”
When the lease ends at the Oscar Mayer location in four years, Eich says they plan to move into their own building to have the stability of owning a space.
The Annex has allowed The Bodgery to grow and custom-design spaces to fit the needs of any craft or specialty.
“It’s amazing how fast we’ve grown,” Fortner says. “How are we going to keep up, keep pace with all this? Somehow we manage. People step up at the right time and the job gets done.”
Maija Inveiss is a former associate editor of Madison Magazine.
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