Talking to Holger Dielenberg, 45, it’s easy to get carried along by his enthusiasm. He is a multi-talented and multi-skilled maker who is all about creating a ‘maker ecosystem’ for others to realise their artistic and entrepreneurial ideas in.
Around seven years ago, Holger came back to Australia after working overseas for many years. The idea to build a manufacturing hub for artisans and designers was something he had wanted to do for a very long time and 18 months ago he felt it was time to bite the bullet. He bought a factory space in Melbourne, gutted it, created 20 sqm studio spaces for other makers to lease, as well as what Holger likes to call a 500 sqm metal and woodworking ‘tool gym’ for others to use on a casual or regular membership basis. There’s a welding bay, a woodworking machinery shop, a tech room with 3D printing, laser cutting and other digital tools.
‘We fill the gap in the market where designers and makers of anything hit the coalface of industry. They struggle to finance their own facility, space or equipment, and consequently can’t make what they want to bring to market’, said Holger.
By the time he was 14, working alongside his boatbuilder father, Holger reckons he had completed the equivalent of three apprenticeships. ‘I started helping my father build boats when I was six. I probably helped him build 16 boats by the time I was 14. So before I left high school I pretty much had three apprenticeships behind me. With boats you’re doing everything – you’re dealing with steel, wood, fibreglass, electronics, plumbing, steambending and a whole range of things.’
After studying fine art at the VCA, Holger ‘tried to cut it as an artist’ for about five years, supporting himself by doing house renovations. Wanting to be more creative he got into one of the first-ever multi-media courses, which eventually led him into the film business, followed by 15 years doing 3D character animation and digital visual effects.
‘There were seven years here in Australia up and down the east coast’, he said, ‘and seven years all over Europe where I ended up supervising lots of visual effects for European feature films and commercials, sometimes back to back. I’ve built a few visual effects studios over in Germany, and built a few creative studios here in Australia.’
Holger’s professional life was about solving problems for various clients within the creative environments he worked in. Looking around at his friends and seeing people who lacked that kind of space to fulfill their own creative dreams in was what led him to conceive Space Tank Studio, a place that brought together the areas he had worked in: practical, fine art and digital.
With members accessing fully equipped metal and woodworking shops, safety and operating standards are paramount. However Holger points out that many people in industry and educational institutions now feel hamstrung by regulations. ‘In some places you simply cannot work anymore’, he said, ‘you can’t tie your own shoelaces without gloves on and safety glasses.’ But jokes aside, Holger emphasises that OHS is taken very seriously at STS. New members are inducted with standard operating procedures for all equipment and their competencies are individually assessed. If additional training is required ways of obtaining this are discussed.
Workshops are also held at the studio. These vary according to interest and as opportunities arise, such as a recent one for cutting edge non-stitching softgoods technology that was well attended and led to STS being used as a prototyping lab by some of Melbourne’s leading carry bag and wallet design companies. Holger has also created what he calls a ‘black ops room’ that is swipe-accessed and can be hired by companies for off-site product development where security is required. The space has also been used by universities utilising the space as an environment for student prac work, especially during ‘overflow’ times.
For more information see www.spacetankstudio.com.au