About Instructables
Instructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others. The seeds of Instructables germinated at the MIT Media Lab as the future founders of Squid Labs built places to share their projects and help others. Read more about the history...
In August 2011 Instructables joined Autodesk, a leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software. Read more about why we're excited to be part of Autodesk.
To create a new Instructable, comment on someone else's Instructable, or do lots of other cool things, you need to become a member. We also have a guided tour.
Instructables Team
Eric earned his SB, SM, and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, where he developed methods to print electronics and micro-electromechanical systems using nanoparticles. Eric co-founded Squid Labs in order to have impact through early-stage innovation. He spun Instructables out of Squid Labs as an independent company, which he now runs with a passion. He loves building kite-powered contraptions, cooking breakfast, and demystifying technology so that even his Grandmother can use it.
Being a fan of the site for years makes working for Instructables a dream. Before coming here, I was a sales director in the pharmaceutical industry for 5 years, and have been in sales one way or another for most of my career.... but my true passion is food. And when I say "food," what I really mean is "eating." And when I say "eating," what I really mean is "stuffing my face."
Carley Jacobson earned her BS in Computer Science and Visual Arts from Union College. She spent the better part of her time at school in the digital art lab building physical computing sculptures and in the sculpture lab welding steel and carving rocks. In her spare time you can catch her hot gluing shiny things like sparkles, beads, and glitter to what ever she can! Her art projects can be found here.
Christy earned her SB in Biology from MIT, and worked in transgenic mouse labs, an aquarium, and the biotech industry before joining Instructables. She loves cutting things up, experimenting with food, and making costumes.
Cloude previously built products for Swell / Surfline and managed products and consulting services for Busybox Productions. He loves giving his favorite Instructable to friends and co-workers.
Dave Worley has been developing websites since 1998. He's responsible for the visible elements of the site and making sure the user interface is intuitive and error free. He has only broken the site two three seven times so far.
A former ski bum who at one point somehow managed to get his act together long enough to graduate from college with a degree in graphic design, Gary makes things look nice on the internet when not schlepping a pair of skis or snowboards between San Francisco (where he grew up) and Tahoe (what keeps him from growing up).
Quincy earned his SB in Geology at MIT. He previously worked on cheminformatics, cookie-less click-tracking, and CMS customization & data migration. He likes photography, spoooky oontz, and overbuilt shade structures. He spends his spare time playing competitive softball, being a crazy uncle, and giving himself haircuts.
Karen likes making things, candlelit dinners, and long walks on the beach.
The world of advertising captivated me when I saw an ad for coco puffs cereal while watching Saturday morning cartoons. Thirty years later, much to my wife's dismay, I'm still eating coco puffs for breakfast.
Lindsay has a degree in Media Studies and has spent the last several years in digital advertising sales for CNET and CBSi. Upon discovering the Instructables site she was quickly taken in by the great Tech and CE projects. After spending 45 minutes exploring, it was literally love at first 'site'.
The robot is asleep.
I make crazy things, then I show you how to make your own. A strong believer in DIY, reusing materials not for their intended purpose, breaking things and getting messy; I can be found scouring the streets looking for my next project inspiration. When not making wacky projects I can be found writing the Man Crafts column at DollarStoreCrafts.com, or nerding out on my website
Natalie has a degree in fashion design, and began her career as an art director for beauty advertising in NYC. She has since switched to web and is indulging in her crafty side. She can't imagine better lunch conversation than comparing knitting techniques with the Instructables crew.
Rachel previously built web-based carsharing tools with EngineGreen and VoiceXML applications with Indigo Egg. She is a cofounder of Noisebridge, a San Francisco hackerspace. She wears funny hats and t-shirts, eats suspicious food, and doesn't sleep.
Randy is author of the internationally renowned book 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer. He is a Fellow with F.A.T. Lab and a co-founder of SF Media Labs. He enjoys long walks on the beach, over-sharing, inside jokes, Oxford commas, and simple bots
Sarah James earned her MFA in Design and Technology for the Theatre from UT-Austin where her favorite class was maskmaking. Her lifelong dream has been to make cool stuff. She just can't believe her luck.
My love of constructing and de-constructing things goes all the way back to my first Lego set. Truth be told, I'm slightly better at deconstructing, than I am constructing, but I'm working on it. These days I spend most of my time constructing toys for my 4-month old daughter. I'm still waiting on the Instructable that teaches me how to get her to sleep through the night. Anyone...
Wade is a former Oakland middle school English teacher who appreciates a good trebuchet almost as much as a well-constructed sentence or a properly-placed semicolon. He is writing a choose your own adventure romance novel.
Instructables Interns
New intern and long time fan of the site, Matthew is an avid "Instructabrarian". Currently resides in the Apple HQ city and is earning his undegrad at UBC. Absolutely loves anything PIXAR related and participates at the Maker Faire with his DIY PIXAR booth. Spends too much time on TV Tropes.
Artists In Residence
Jessy earned her BS in Public Health Education from University of Louisville and is a total CHES! She enjoys Nicolas Cage and quilting more than anyone should. She also enjoys kitties and feeding people.
Oliver studied medicine and biomedical engineering in the UK before realizing he'd much rather get excited and make things than pretend to be a grown-up. Highlights of his career have included delivering babies in hospitals, throwing axes on stage and wrangling ferrets in the name of neuroscience. He spends his spare time crawling through caves, dancing the Lindy Hop and accidentally gluing himself to his chair.
Instructables Advisors & Board Members
Co-founder of Ofoto and GNN, advisor to Instructables. Lisa is a successful entrepreneur who aims to make the planet a better place.
Duncan was the first VP of Business Development, Sales & Legal at Military.com, Jumpstart Technologies, and Tagged.com; he is now a dedicated advisor to Instructables. Duncan loves vintage lugged-steel bicycles, making electronic music, and playing the banjo badly. He is also the author of Negotiating Your Salary & Perks.
Mark is a managing director of O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, which is in the business of funding disruptors, innovators and hackers of the status quo. Prior to founding OATV, Mark led O'Reilly Media's business development and conferences divisions.
Squid Labs Community
Noah earned his BS in Environmental Studies from Brown, where he built talking trees. Since then he has worked as a custom speaker builder and a white water rafting guide. He keeps himself clean and wellfed, and in top kissing form.
Tim showed up at MIT begging for old robots he could teach to paint. Before long he had built the first starch-based 3D printing system, and co-founded Z-Corp to commercialize the technology. His current goal is to document and record the world's ancient and traditional methods - known as heirloom technologies. Tim loves simple living using stuff he finds for free, innertubes, and a boat for eachday of the week.
Sam earned a BA in math at Grinnell College and brought home the bacon working on a farm, managing a public bikes program, and running a handyman business. In his free time he likes to combine all of the above, making awesome stuff to eat, wear, ride, watch, launch, play with, live in, and otherwise augment his life.
Matt is a graduate of RISD who likes inventing and mechanical design. He recently worked in the special effects industry (he had a hand in Snakes on a Plane and Alien vs Predator 2) and has his own IMDB page. He makes guitars (homemade Guitar Hero controller Instructable is coming soon) and etches brass.
Will is a mechanical engineering major at MIT. He spent the summer developing beta Howtoons.
Erich, a Nebraska native, spent the summer developing beta Howtoons.
Patrick earned his SB and SM degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. He runs grueling triathlons and experiments and writes about food.
Colin earned his SB and MNG in Electrical Engineering from MIT. He did his Masters work at the MIT Media Lab developing processes and materials to print transistors and later founded Kovio to commercialize this technology. He loves taking pictures, making laser-cut gifts, and good food.
Leah loves taking the hard edges of technology and making them soft. She spends her time coding and developing the web system for Pownce.
Jeff runs Jeff Fassnacht Design, designed the Instructables hand logo, and is responsible for much of the original look and feel of the site.
Josh is majoring in [to be determined sometime in the next year or so] at Stanford. He likes non-potent potables, creative writing, and impersonating robots.
Bilal makes things because it's much like giving birth - without the pain. He runs a small business in Michigan: modati.com, and studies computer science in his free time. He will be your friend if you ask.
Dan did his master's work at Brown, designed chips for Intel, and then built electronics at the MIT Media Lab. Dan loves getting lost on his bike, blinking lights, and travel.
Billy is an electrical engineering major at Brooklyn Poly. He likes fire, computers, explosions, electronics, and fire.
Saul earned his SM and PhD from MIT working on self-assembly where he built electromechanical and mechanical self assembling devices. He loves cars without computers, designing kites, and a differentbicycle for each day of the week. Saul was named a 2007 MacArthur Fellow.
After designing snowboards and almost becoming a professional windsurfer, Corwin earned his PhD from Stanford developing vibration isolation control systems and actuators for the LIGO project. Corwin loves nearly impossible mechanical design challenges and riding his bike to the beach to find big surf and strong wind.
Mitch is a Designer, hacker and artist who joined Squid Labs as their first intern in 2006. Lending a hand wherever needed, Mitch has since been an employee of nearly all of the Squid Labs companies including Instructables, Potenco, OptiOpia and Makani Power. His current interests include smart geometry, bicycles and cocktail robotics.
Jesse uses wood for practical as well as artistic creations.
Geo earned his SM and PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, working on biological computing. He co-founded Permabit, and has appeared multiple times on Scrapheap Challenge (Junkyard Wars) as a member of the 2000 Finalist team, the NERDS. Geo loves robots that drop your jaw and making physics and all things mechanical accessible.
Robin earned her SB in Materials Science from MIT. She loves roadtrips, big swirly skirts, and her horse Fence.
Paul is a mechanical engineering major at the University of Central Florida. He builds indoor gardens, finebeverages, and tasteful decor.
Kenny earned his SB in Physics from MIT, and is now a Ph.D. candidate in physics at UC Berkeley. Kenny loves taking and creating images.
Emily earned her BS and MS from Stanford, and is now Engineer/Designer at HDR. Emily did her master's work on Stirling cycle engines at Stanford and has a deep understanding of energy flows.
Ryan earned his SM degree in Media Arts & Science from MIT, working at the MIT Media Lab building open tools to monitor governments. He developed the initial Instructables platform, building upon his experience with The Center for Land Use Interpretation and other mapping systems. Ryan loves independent radio, kittens, and living on the fly.
Eric earned his BS in Computer Science at Harvard and has been building UI toolkits for the web ever since. Eric loves community-building, loud music, and industrial design.
Arwen earned her BS at Harvard University, and now edits Make magazine and Craft magazine. She loves fresh berries, lazy Sunday mornings, and having her own garden, wherever she can get it.
With a few hours and an instruction manual, Nick can make any machine work. Previously, he was a research scientist at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab.
Jessie Phillips is a graduate student in the designed objects program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She loves sharp x-acto knives. And puppies. But not together.
Brad is an Engineering Major at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and is designing his own curriculum in robotics. He likes robots, helicopters, robot helicopters, sushi, and MINIs. Brad also enjoys making things out of metal. Especially robots.
