Brno is hitting its stride, and makers are leading the charge. Often playfully referred to by locals as Prague’s smaller cousin who likes to joke that it is merely a village, the city boasts a vibrant population featuring approximately 80,000 students. Far from feeling small, this environment pulses with a unique creative energy. Powered by young minds, big ambitions, and a healthy appetite for technology, traditional craft, and hands-on experimentation, Brno has firmly established itself as fertile ground for the modern maker movement.
Since its launch in 2019, Maker Faire Brno has expanded significantly. The event now welcomes around 7,500 visitors and several hundred makers hailing from across Czechia and beyond. Fab Lab Brno has served as a vital partner to the Make More team—the dedicated group behind all of Czechia’s Maker Faires—working continuously to build the local community one creator at a time. The momentum keeps building as Maker Faire Brno returns for its eighth edition, welcoming crowds into a venue that feels practically tailor-made for the occasion.
The venue itself is an integral part of the experience. Brno’s Exhibition Halls offer striking architecture, soaring ceilings, and an abundance of natural light. Featuring an on-site planetarium, a sprawling main hall, and countless architectural nooks and crannies to explore, the space encourages discovery. Around every corner, attendees encounter curiosity in action, clever engineering feats, creative experiments, and serious maker talent.
Prusa Research Fuels Local Ingenuity and the Maker Spirit
A driving force behind the explosion of Maker Faires across the Czech Republic, Prusa Research is once again channeling its distinctive maker spirit directly into Brno. As a shining showcase of Czech ingenuity, Prusa’s integrated, in-house approach to manufacturing demonstrates what is possible when making is placed at the absolute heart of a business.
This year’s event features an exciting incentive for attendees: a shiny new Prusa 3D printer is up for grabs. Visitors can take part in the special Maker Challenge to show the team how a clever idea combined with 3D printing can give discarded items a second life as useful, functional tools. Successful participants just might head home with a brand-new printer to fuel their next big idea. For those unable to make the trip to Brno, Prusa will also be exhibiting at Maker Faire Rome the following week.
Ten Projects Highlighting Diverse Engineering, Art, and Science
Maker Faire is where the boundaries between engineering, art, science, and everyday problem-solving get delightfully blurry. The 2026 lineup in Brno showcases an immense breadth of creativity, ranging from custom 3D-printed speakers and DIY electronics to innovative uses for garden waste, accessible technology, and hands-on mechanical tinkering.
Among the standout projects is Acoustika 3D, featuring SIMPLIXITY, a custom-designed 3D-printed loudspeaker born from a fusion of a love for Drum and Bass music, engineering, and 3D printing. Visitors can examine the internal components and discover how enclosure design directly shapes sound quality. In a similarly artistic and scientific vein, Sublisica transforms tiny frozen soap-bubble crystals into the starting point for a surprising fusion of photography, chemistry, and design. When off-the-shelf tools proved insufficient, maker Jan Grygerek designed his own custom engraving machine to preserve these fleeting patterns permanently on glass.
Environmental sustainability and resourcefulness also feature prominently in the exhibition halls. The Biouhel project addresses the common challenge of garden waste by demonstrating how piles of pruned branches can be converted into biochar—a porous, carbon-rich material that helps soil retain crucial water and nutrients. This clever process turns yard waste into a valuable resource that offers long-term carbon-storage benefits.
Bridging the gap between academia and public engagement, Masaryk University’s computer science labs bring abstract concepts into the physical world. Their exhibits feature a robot capable of drawing with a pen alongside a marionette controlled entirely by human movements, transforming complex algorithms, robotics, and human-computer interaction into tangible, playable experiences that highlight the intersection of maker education and hard science.
Material exploration is heavily represented by projects like 3Dfil.cz, which serves as a playground for 3D printing enthusiasts. The exhibit explores materials, equipment, and applications spanning FDM, resin printing, and specialized high-strength uses, offering a space to compare technologies and find inspiration for future builds. For those interested in pure mechanics, the "Bearings in action" workshop allows visitors to take apart and reassemble the critical components that keep skateboards, bikes, and roller skates rolling smoothly.
Safety and public infrastructure inspire creative technological solutions as well. The KAMaRAD project, developed by researchers at Brno University of Technology, introduces a prototype that combines standard sensors with millimeter-wave radar to detect potential road hazards, aiming to enhance safety for cyclists and other vulnerable road users in difficult visibility conditions.
Traditional craft and low-tech fun find a home in projects like Baťa Customs, which invites participants to sand, paint, assemble, and customize their own wooden gravity racers without the need for batteries. Meanwhile, the RaveBOX project offers a musical outlet for tinkerers, blending a synthesizer and sequencer into an experimental electronics platform where twisting knobs and building rhythms yields unexpected sonic creations.
Adding high-performance marine engineering to the mix, a high-performance 3D printed RC jet boat equipped with on-board telemetry demonstrates the capabilities of durable engineering polymers combined with high-current power supplies and custom electronics. Controlled by an ESP32 chip, the boat wirelessly transmits real-time GPS speed, battery voltage, and component temperatures to the shore.
Workshops Offer Hands-On Learning Across Disciplines
Maker Faire Brno extends well beyond passive observation, offering a comprehensive workshop lineup designed to let attendees roll up their sleeves and build something themselves. Spanning short, 30-minute introductions and deep-dive sessions lasting 90 minutes or more, the educational program caters to children, teens, adults, and families alike. Activities range from beginner-friendly explorations to advanced engineering techniques, with many sessions allowing participants to take home a tangible creation such as a robot, a circuit, a 3D print, or a bespoke craft project.
The curriculum covers a vast spectrum of subjects. In the realm of digital fabrication, attendees can learn the fundamentals of 3D printing by designing and printing space-themed objects, or branch out into ceramic 3D printing and parametric design. Robotics and electronics workshops invite participants to build and program Otto robots, assemble combat robots, practice soldering, or explore STM32 microcontrollers and NXP development boards to build working digital clocks.
Space exploration features prominently through collaborations with student groups. The student space team YSpace guides participants through building working CubeSat models, while rocket team SoRC assists in designing and printing space-inspired objects. Younger makers can also construct and launch water rockets powered simply by water and compressed air.
Smart device creation is represented by LaskaKit, where participants build Wi-Fi-connected e-paper information displays that merge electronics with practical everyday applications. Meanwhile, the Nitlab workshop bridges textiles and technology, allowing creators to use punch cards to control knitting machines and produce patterned scarves, demonstrating a unique intersection of analog craft and mechanical programming.
Beyond the dedicated workshops, the festival features a Repair Zone where visitors can observe how broken household objects are restored to working order. The main event stage hosts a dynamic schedule over the course of the weekend. Saturday’s programming features a 24-hour Student Hardware Hackathon, space exploration insights from ESERO Czech Republic, spectacular science demonstrations, and discussions on the right-to-repair movement alongside Prusa Research’s Maker Challenge. Sunday transitions to showcasing the hackathon winners, digital footwear innovations, student-built artificial intelligence projects, and an open microphone session for makers eager to share their latest builds with the community.
