I've had the opportunity of working out of the same space as Rocket Department for the last few years. Last spring I met up with them at Maker Faire 10 in San Mateo, Calif. Their Prism Challenge was a laser and mirror feat of engineering technology that was so well attended they had little down time last year.
This year I met up with them as they prepare their most recent light technology installation piece, Project Obelisk. They first showed this installation at TBD Fest 2015 in Sacramento, Calif., a music and food festival organized by Clay Nutting and Michael Haggis.
After spending most of the week preparing for the Eleventh Annual Maire Faire in San Mateo, Calif. the Rocket Department packed all their goodies into a U-Haul and headed off to the event location two hours away in the heart of Silicon Valley, the San Mateo Event Center.
This, their third year coming to the Bay Area Maker Faire will be the year that they have two booths, one showing off the light installation, Project Obelisk, and the second selling their learn to solder kits for emerging makers and engineers of all ages.
Emma Fletcher, a five year attendee and one of the Rocket Department teammates, said the Maker Faire has been instrumental in creating awareness about the learn to solder kits,
"Its been a huge inspiration... This is our first year having a vendor booth and we are really excited to bring the learn to solder kits here and the reception has been awesome. We launched Hue this weekend with our first run of 100 and we're almost sold out. There's about five [units] left. We brought 150 Blink and we're down to the end of that as well."
I met up with Rocket Department Sunday morning, while Andy C. searched out Adam Savage from the TV reality show, "Mythbusters." A little earlier, Andy A. and Kaleb worked the Project Obelisk installation. They occasionally had to tell a few of the youngest faire attendees to please get down from the polyethylene cubes and to stop climbing on them.
One exciting transaction at the Learn to Solder booth Sunday afternoon was when a customer bought 30 of the Blink kits. The company has been selling the kits online for several months, but this was their first large scale in person product sale.
Keep your eye out for what Rocket Department lights up next. I know I will be.
