NextFab Studio Team: Stephanie Koenig
“I like to help people build things,” says Stephanie Koenig. She’ll be doing exactly that in her new role as a technician at NextFab Studio, where she’ll be working alongside Lewis Colburn, who we profiled previously. With a background in furniture design and construction, theatre prop production, and sculpture, Koenig brings a wide range of fabrication experience to the team.
By way of introduction, we asked her three questions about her career and her new role at NextFab Studio:
1. What’s the most complicated thing you ever had to build or fabricate?
I’ve built a few complicated things. The most daunting was a 2 floor structure in the shape of a horse’s head in profile; another difficult work to fabricate was a two foot wide spiral made of oriented strand board (sheathing used in construction). The piece was created by cutting many strips of OSB with a slight angle on the edge. The strips were then rolled up into a cylinder that was eight feet long. I put fiberglass on the interior of the cylinder and then cut it into a spiral. It fell completely apart, and I had to reassemble it with more fiberglass.
2. Will you work on any personal projects at NextFab Studio?
I’m hoping to fabricate elements for large hanging pieces – retro furniture and macrame plant hangers. Think ‘Mad Men’ meets a stereotypical crafty grandma from the 70’s. I would use some combination of the Trotec Speedy 500 75 Watt laser engraver and cutter, the Roland MDX‐40 CNC Mill and the ShopBot CNC Router for these pieces.
3. What most excites you about NextFab Studio?
I’m excited about the 3D printer and the Next Engine 3D scanner, but I’m most excited about working within a community of other builders, tinkerers, and dreamers. I’ve found that helping people work with machines, tools and materials is uniquely satisfying. I’m excited to help to build something or make it better.
