Create Makerspace

Create Makerspace is a young business built on a big idea: to give the Squamish community a place to create, collaborate, and learn new skills. Since opening our doors in January 2024, we've experienced incredible growth — transforming from a single shared workshop into a thriving creative hub that brings together artists, makers, entrepreneurs, and community members of all ages. In less than two years, we've become a cornerstone of Squamish's creative and small business ecosystem, and we're only just getting started.

From the beginning, Create Makerspace has demonstrated strong and sustainable business practices. We've built a diversified model that combines membership access, educational programming, and design and fabrication services for local businesses. Members can access fully equipped wood, metal, and digital fabrication shops, while our wide range of classes — from woodworking and welding to laser cutting and digital design — helps beginners and professionals alike learn valuable hands-on skills. Our instructors, now numbering over forty, represent a wealth of local talent and expertise.

In just our first year, we saw overwhelming community engagement, which led directly to our first major expansion. In January 2025, we opened the pottery studio, responding to huge local demand for ceramics programming. This expansion not only diversified our creative offerings but also created new revenue streams, supported local instructors, and attracted new members who might never have otherwise engaged with a makerspace. Within weeks of launching, pottery classes were filling up faster than we could schedule them — a testament to both the quality of instruction and the appetite for accessible creative spaces in Squamish.

Our trajectory continues to rise. We are now planning our next major expansion, which will double our total square footage and significantly grow our capacity to serve the community. This expansion will include a larger, purpose-built pottery studio, individual artist studios for rent, and a coworking area designed for creative professionals and entrepreneurs. This growth is not speculative — it's demand-driven. The waiting lists for classes prove there is a strong and growing market for what we offer.

Beyond financial success, Create Makerspace has become an inspiration for other new businesses in the community. Our model demonstrates that a small, independently founded business can thrive by blending creativity, education, and entrepreneurship. We've shown that collaboration — between artists, schools, local businesses, and cultural organizations — can be both economically viable and socially valuable.

What makes Create special is not just what we make, but what we make possible: new skills, new businesses, new friendships, and new confidence in creative potential. In under three years, we've gone from an idea to a vibrant community hub with a strong team, sustainable growth, and a clear vision for the future.

Create Makerspace embodies what the Best New Business Award celebrates — innovation, integrity, and the promise of continued growth. We're proud to have built something that not only contributes to Squamish's creative economy but also inspires others to start, build, and create.