Nova Labs is bringing makers to the Fairfax Funky Flea! Visit our shared booth on the last Saturday of each month to shop handmade goods from local makers, meet members of the Nova Labs community, and learn more about our makerspace.

Nova Labs Kinetic Sculpture Team (NLKST) captured the highest honor at the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race, earning the title of Grand East Coast National Mediocre Champion for its outstanding performance aboard Meep Meep and Meyond, a human-powered amphibious vehicle that impressed judges and charmed spectators during the day-long event.

What happens when a public artist shifts focus from transforming city spaces to creating moments of quiet reflection? Nova Labs resident maker Tamao Nakayama shares her journey back to her Japanese roots, preserving traditional arts through hands-on workshops, cultural experiences, and the launch of her new venture, Tamao Atelier.

Four or so years ago when my father passed away, Christopher Sexton, woodshop steward and maker of fine dovetailed boxes (I think he’s made upwards of 60 of them), invited me to do some woodworking. He suggested it might be a good way to process things. Something inside me said "Great idea! I want to build an electric guitar!" Always with a gentle voice, he suggested maybe we start with a few other things first. Maybe learn a few things. Ok, Ok. So, with his help: I made a gu

Working with National Bell Festival to support the Solidarity Bell.

Every year the American Homebrewers Association has a Big Brew Event where they encourage Home Brewers across the country to spend the first Saturday in May making one of their own recipes. I have participated in this for several years at Jay’s Brewing shop in Manassas, where Jay’s also partners with Downright Obsessed Homebrewers (DOH) to host a competition for local homebrewers, with qualified beer experts as judges, and brewing-related prizes. Since the first Saturday of

If you don’t have plans for July 4th, you do now! Come see Nova Labs in the Independence Day Parade in downtown Fairfax! We’re bringing the award-winning Kinetic Sculpture with fresh decorations, just for the fourth, and we’ve made another round of awesome cupcakes… but not the kind you eat. Nova Labs has been perfecting its cupcake game since 2017, when the Go-Cart Cupcakes first appeared in a holiday parade. Before that, they were designed around little red tricycles. Ever

2024 Nova Labs Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race troupe. It is not hard to picture a kinetic sculpture, or a race. But when the terms are put together, all bets are off! Wikipedia defines kinetic sculpture races as, “organized contests of human-powered amphibious all-terrain works of art.” While this barely scratches the surface, the event does involve such vehicles and it is somehow organized, if you are not too picky about semantics. As for the racing part, getting to the fi

By Vince McCullough This year’s Nova Labs entry in the Reston Cardboard Regatta will be the KARDBORD DRAKEN. The DRAKEN is designed to resemble a Viking longship (a very short longship), and is built using construction techniques that are similar to those used by the Vikings themselves, though with cardboard and glue instead of wood and nails. The keel of the DRAKEN The keel of the ship is constructed by laminating five boards made of 5/8” triple-ply cardboard together to f

Ed. note: Darsh Nand is a member at Nova Labs and got married earlier this year. As part of a unique wedding favor, Darsh and his wife Katrina created laser engraved/cut tokens that were given to guests. Read Darsh's note about it below. My wife and I recently got married and instead of handing out favors to our guests, we asked guests to put a laser cut token (made at Nova Labs!) into a box. The box had an option to pick between two charities/organizations we feel dearly abo