The Friday Exit: Making, coding, building and burning in Chicago

It was maker and builder week at Blue Sky, starting with a pair of inventors we met at a recent Chicago Innovation Awards event.

Joe Walsh and Kent Frayn were roommates at the University of Illinois when they came up with the idea for DropCatch, a magnetic bottle opener that not only lifts caps but also magnetically stores up to 60 of them on the same wood device. Now 24-year-old alumni, they’ve raised nearly $50,000 on Kickstarter and are selling the DropCatch for $60 apiece, with wood crafted in Logan Square and assembly in the West Loop. John Carpenter found them a perfect fit for his series on Chicago Makers. “It’s a conversation piece,” Walsh told him.

At billion-dollar building company Clayco, investing in startups has become a priority; think mobile technology, smart building products and energy efficiency, ideas that can be cost-effective as well as allow a better user experience for a building’s users. “Their iPhone becomes their security badge. Smart window technology tints the window based on the where the sun is and the weather outside.” See what else Kate MacArthur learned about Clayco investment arm Treehouse from its president, Mike Latiner.

How to get more women into coding? Jen Myers, a designer and developer, will host workshops to teach mother-daughter pairs the basics. “I know what it’s like to not have access to these type of things,” Myers told Amina Elahi. “There’s always this sense of if I had this earlier, I could be farther now, or maybe it would’ve been easier earlier in my career.” Her teaching assistant at Code and Cupcakes will be her 9-year-old daughter Elizabeth.

Jamie Hodari and Justin Stewart opened Industrious, a coworking space in Chicago, a year ago, with quirky antiques and creaky wood floors adding charm beyond cubicle style. “Everything good is unexpected in the office context,” Hodari told James Janega. (That gives me the sads. Let’s fix that.) “No one expects even the barest moments of warmth or hospitality, so moments matter in that context.” It’s one of a handful of lessons Hodari and Stewart think they can take on the road as they prepare to expand their brand to Atlanta, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and St. Louis.

A hybrid work-and-workout facility set to open in December in the West Loop will be the first Midwest facility from Brooklyn Boulders, a New York-based indoor rock-climbing company. “It’s loud, it’s dusty, it’s gritty, it’s kind of almost obnoxious, to the point that people really love it,” community developer Jesse Levin said. (Sounds kind of like a newsroom.) It will include a 1,000-square-foot collaborative workspace with standing desks, exercise-ball sitting desks and above-desk pull-up bars. The goal: to meld physicality with productivity.

Innovative alternative food sources always raise attention; fortunately, we don’t have to eat this one, at least not directly. Inc. reports on Dayton, Ohio-based EnviroFlight and its effort to turn black soldier fly larvae into a low-cost, high-protein feed for livestock. First, founder Glen Courtright had to get the insects to mate in captivity en masse. (I KNOW.) “When they mate, they move in tail to tail,” he explains. “You know it’s working if you see them drop. Boop, boop. It looks like little black rain drops.” Believe it or not, it gets more dramatic from there.

We look forward to seeing you at two Blue Sky events this week: Monday at the 3D Printer Experience (sold out) and Thursday for our onstage conversation with Rick Bayless at the National Museum of Mexican Art (tickets available here).

Meantime, enjoy your weekend – perhaps with this guide to the Redmoon Theater’s first Great Chicago Fire Festival?

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