Southern Indiana Business March-April 2020 | Page 21

Connell shows off one of her popular leather bracelets. She also creates keychains and jewelry through her work. She often shares her workspace
with her four children.
district are in full force, it’s loud in there
— for the entrepreneurs who use it as their
manufacturing hub, it’s the sound of success.
The three-year-old nonprofit space has
table saws, routers and other woodworking
equipment, as well as 3D printers, laser cutters,
sewing and embroidery machines, a quilter,
vinyl cutters, welders, a CNC machine, steel
fabricating equipment, and the software
necessary to design for them all.
For a $65 monthly membership, anyone in
the community can come take a training course
and use the equipment. Maker 13 is currently
130 members and growing. “People who have
the idea, but not the skill, can learn that here,”
said Christy Riley, who owns and operates the
space with her husband, John.
While the maker movement has been
popular on the coasts for a while, it’s finally
starting to make its way to the heartland, Riley
said. In addition to Maker 13, similar spaces
have sprung up in Louisville, each with its
own specialty.
“It’s not necessarily just for fun, but to learn
a skill or start a business, and learn and grow.”
Riley said. “We let people completely run
businesses out of here.”
Shelly Daughtery, owner of Southern
Grit, is one of them. “We didn’t mean to
start a business,” she said. But what started
as her husband’s trip to Maker 13 to make
her a traditional wooden gift for their 5-year
wedding anniversary became much more
than that when they posted it on social media.
“People wanted to know where we got it, and
when we said we made it, it took off,” she said.
After her second child was born, Daughtery
decided to leave her full-time job as an
educator and pursue their passion full time.
Today, they create wood carvings, etchings and
leatherwork for both their online store and a
number of boutiques.
For her, DIY is more than creating — it’s a
lifestyle. “I’m able to stay home with our kids
and run the business on our own terms, on
our own time vs. the very typical corporate or
educational world time frame,” she said. “Even
though sometimes I joke that I think I work
more hours now than I did when I worked
outside the home, it doesn’t feel like work.”
While Daughtery carves a wooden outline
of the state of Kentucky on one of Maker 13’s
laser cutters, Amber Connell creates leather
bracelets on another. She’s a stay-at-home
“IT’S NOT
NECESSARILY
JUST FOR FUN,
BUT TO LEARN A
SKILL OR START
A BUSINESS,
AND LEARN AND
GROW.
­
— Christy Riley, Maker 13
March / April 2020
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