Maker Faire Brussels: A Fabrication Engine In The EU Capital

On May 23–24, 2026, Maker Faire Brussels roars back into Canal City in Anderlecht for a multi-faceted celebration of creativity, DIY culture, local manufacturing, and hands-on tech that’s as unique and complex as this crossroads city itself. Come for the science, stay for the workshop playground, and get inspired by creatives and creators reinventing the future as the event brings together passionate makers, fablabs, designers, engineers, artists, and inventors for two days of experimentation and inspiration.

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This year’s edition puts the spotlight on the factory of the future. Participants will get up close with robotic arms, next-generation 3D printing, digital fabrication tools and the unique ways that makers have put them to use, and the technologies transforming how products are designed and built. In the context of Brussels, long a capital of manufacturing and craft, this is an especially rich progression. Want to know how an arcade cabinet goes from sketchbook concept to fully playable machine? You’ll see every step of the process—from woodworking and electronics to coding and final assembly—alongside projects dreamed up and manufactured by local creative talent.

The program is packed with live demos, interactive exhibits, creative workshops, and maker-market energy for all ages and skill levels. Whether you’re a curious beginner, hardcore tinkerer, educator, artist, or industry professional, there’s something to spark your next obsession. Want to try your hand at 3D printing, engrave metal with a laser or a stylus, check out the latest developments in CNC milling for all types of materials, get started with vinyl cutting, electronics, programming, augmented reality, textile customization, plastics molding, recycling techniques—its all there. In fact, while Maker Faire Brussels is a culmination of community creativity and ingenuity each year — and an effort to inspire new folks to join the maker community and experience its joys firsthand — it is also very much an expression that drives Fab City producers the other 363 days of the year. The event is an outgrowth of the robust publically sponsored making and fabrication program in the city and its two primary makerspaces (CityFab 1 & 2). Cityfab “is a place to exchange, share and teach technical know-how and to invent, manufacture and realize in a different way. Everyone can use the different machines to develop projects or follow a training course.” This is all part of a broader vision to promote the digital transformation of the city and to provide equal access to those resources. Maker Faire Brussels has been a part of this vision since its return in 2023.

Maker Faire Brussels is powered by Brussels’ vibrant network of fablabs and the passionate communities behind them—makerspaces dedicated to opening up access to digital fabrication, hands-on learning, and collaborative innovation. More than just workshops filled with tools and machines, these fablabs are creative engines for the city: places where designers, engineers, artists, students, and curious newcomers come together to prototype ideas, share knowledge, and build the future with their own hands. Through Maker Faire Brussels, the fablab network reinforces its role as a driving force in the local innovation ecosystem, championing experimentation, open knowledge, and learning-by-doing.

Newly inaugurated along the canal in Anderlecht, CanalCity provides the perfect industrial backdrop for the festival’s mashup of invention and community. Across two days, the venue will transform into a buzzing maker ecosystem where visitors can test machines, build prototypes, meet creators, and discover the vibrant world of Brussels fablabs and urban manufacturing. It makes the effort to be hands on and participant led. This is not a museum or window shopping expeerience, although plenty of commercial makers and fine artists are also in the mix.

A major highlight of the 2026 edition is its partnership with circlemade.brussels, the hub.brussels cluster dedicated to circular production and sustainable manufacturing. Through a special exhibition featuring circular products and pioneering local companies, visitors will explore how Brussels innovators are rethinking production through repair, reuse, eco-design, and resource-conscious fabrication. The collaboration showcases how the maker movement and the circular economy are converging to shape smarter, greener cities.

The strong work of Fabricademy, an interdisciplinary course that focuses on new technologies applied to the textile field, from the fashion industry all the way to the upcoming wearable market, is on display and connects Brussels long history as a center for textiles and fashion to its present and the future. Displays will include root-grown biomaterials, bacterial-dyed textiles, and 3D-printed/sensor-based wearables merging craftsmanship with tech.

This sculptural object is born from a dialogue between the body, nature, and movement. Its form, inspired by the feminine, evokes organic growth and the continuous transformation of living things. Composed of a PLA plastic base and plinth, as well as a plexiglass sculpture , the object combines transparency and materiality, lightness and stability. The plexiglass captures and diffuses light, revealing the forms as they rotate. The materials accompany the movement and contribute to a changing perception of volumes, where light and matter enter into dialogue with the slow rhythm of the structure.

Belgium-based maker powerhouse Mekanika is rethinking small-scale production with beautifully designed CNC machines and screen-printing tools built for creators, workshops, and fablabs. Their mission: make digital fabrication more accessible, modular, and open-source so anyone can build and manufacture locally.

At MECAMOVE, we design and manufacture original creations focused on the theme of mechanics. We build creative and artistic machines and devices for educational purposes… or just for fun. Two machines: One interactive marble run of 10 square meters, with balls that travel, trigger mechanisms, change trajectory, climb back up thanks to counterweights and gears. It allows us to explain mechanical and physical concepts. If the weather allows it, we will also present 4m span mechanical birds which will flap wings when they slide along a 50m cable.

La Green Fabric combines craft, sustainability, and machine innovation with experimental tools that transform textile scraps into new felt-based materials. Their work explores how digital fabrication and circular design can radically reduce waste while opening up entirely new possibilities for makers and designers.

Take chopsticks and some woodplates. Design a Printed Circuit Board and batterypack. Assemble it all and here we go, a RC CAR you can ride and fix in case of emergency. Meet our drivers: Jack, Joe and… Jane.

illustrator and paper engineer working for the press (Super Picsou Géant, Spirou) and I just started “Tomino Papertoy” to produce and sell my own designs. I use laser cutting and a plotter to test my prototypes and paper is the perfect medium to combine illustration and design. Paperpanorama is his first series, with a model figuring a 3D view of Brussels and another as an homage to Hieronymus Bosch and Belgian cuisine.

At its core, Maker Faire Brussels is about turning curiosity into action. It’s where solder meets storytelling, code meets craftsmanship, and people of all ages rediscover the thrill of making things with their own hands. This fourth edition is organized in partnership with circlemade.brussels, the Brussels network for circular manufacturing companies coordinated by hub.brussels. Together, they’re shining a spotlight on the next generation of sustainable production—where local manufacturing, repair, reuse, and eco-conscious design are reshaping how products are made and consumed in the city. The event is made possible with the support of key public partners, including the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Innoviris, citydev.brussels, and the Brussels-Capital Region, all working together to fuel innovation, creativity, and sustainable industry in Brussels.

Informations pratiques
Dates : 23 et 24 mai 2026
Horaires : 10h00 – 18h00
Lieu : CanalCity – Quai de Biestebroeck 138/139, 1070 Bruxelles
Entrée gratuite
Informations : https://brussels.makerfaire.com/