Mobile Makers, founded in 2017, is a nonprofit organization that makes design education accessible to all people. Through youth design and skill-building workshops, community engagement, public installations, and pop-ups hosted out of a retrofitted mail truck, Mobile Makers encourages conversations about positive change in the built environment.

Featured News + Events

The Design Summit for Friends of Friends

SAVE THE DATE! The Design Summit for Friends of Friends, on September 29-30th, will bring like-minded designers together to have meaningful conversations about leveraging design to make positive change. Learn more here.

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We’re incredibly honored that Theaster Gates is joining us to kick off the Design Summit for Friends of Friends on September 29th! @theastergates will be in conversation with Maya Bird-Murphy, the founder of Mobile Makers. Don’t miss out!

These professional photos of our Maker, Tinker, Thinker Block Party are 🔥🔥🔥!!

Can’t wait to gather here again at the Design Summit for Friends of Friends happening September 29-30! Updates coming soon…

📸: Patrick L. Pyszka
@chicago

Because of a $55,000 Better Building Grant from the Armstrong World Industries Foundation, our build-out is fully funded! We’re so incredibly excited to be one step closer to constructing our dream space. THANK YOU, AWIF!!! 💞

Last week we finished our Creature Cribs summer program. Students made homes for Chicago wildlife like coyotes, bats, mink, and more. They built models of their ‘cribs’ using art supplies and designed and added components using Tinkercad,

SAVE THE DATE! 📣 September 29-30, Mobile Makers will host the Design Summit for Friends of Friends, an interdisciplinary and intergenerational event that will bring like-minded creatives together to have meaningful conversations about leveraging des

Summer Camp has started!! 💫🌟⭐️ This week is Creature Cribs! 4th-6th graders are researching the critters that live among us in our urban environment and designing homes for them. They’ll use art supplies, 3D printing, and laser cutting to bui

We’re excited to share that Claudia Ansorena has joined the Mobile Makers team! ✨ Claudia is a Cuban-American architectural designer, artist, and educator. She is the co-founder of Resolver Studio, a design practice based in Chicago, and an adj

Hope you all had an amazing Juneteenth!! ❤️🖤💚

Summer programs and events are starting to ramp up! Here’s the rundown:

➡️ Last weekend you may have seen that the Queer Fam Pride Jam hosted by @kidochicago and @slomoparty was postponed. We&rs

We’re thrilled to share that Mobile Makers has been selected as the Education Partner for the fifth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (@chicagoarchitecturebiennial), CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal, curated by the interdisciplinary arts c

We designed Forms of Play, a new pop-up activity, for the @furnishing_utopia @publicaccess.world ‘PUBLIC ACCESS’ exhibition, which features works by 37 international designers, from 19 cities, 12 countries at @nycxdesign week exploring wa

“I loved that Chicago Mobile Makers was able to provide my students not only with engaging curriculum around thinking critically about design and urban planning but that they also showed them diverse career possibilities in this field.”

— 8th Grade Teacher

Help us make design education accessible to everybody.

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