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Design Fabrication Zone

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Design Fabrication Zone

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Design Fabrication Zone (DFZ) is an interdisciplinary hub for design/fabrication innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Design Fabrication Zone (DFZ) at Toronto Metropolitan University is an interdisciplinary incubator for design and fabrication, where emerging entrepreneurs build their ideas. From concept development to three-dimensional prototyping and beyond, the DFZ facilitates the incubation and acceleration of project ideas and strategically propels them towards real-life application and business innovation. The DFZ has yielded over 250 members, 80 projects, 70 press articles and 18 commercial businesses

10/02/2025

Get paid to research, prototype, and collaborate with your peers! 🚨

The DFZ’s Digi-Fab Toolkit Program is a 7-week paid research & development cohort running October 27 – December 12, 2025.

Open to upper-year TMU undergraduates, this hands-on program is supported by Experience Ventures and gives students the chance to co-create the first draft of DFZ’s Digital Fabrication Toolkit.

📅 Applications are open now through to October 10, 2025 📅
🔗 Link in bio to learn more and apply!

Program Details:
1️⃣ Explore sustainable and accessible digital fabrication workflows
2️⃣ Collaborate across disciplines to co-create an open-source digital fabrication toolkit
3️⃣ Receive a $525 honorarium, supported by Experience Ventures

02/26/2025

🎨✂️ Learn to turn hand-drawn designs into vinyl-cut stencils in this hands-on workshop with Veeshva Rana at the DFZ! Explore vector design, vinyl cutting, and stencil-making for henna, jagua, nail art, and more. Open to all skill levels, with priority for BIPOC participants.

📍 110 Bond St, TMU Campus
📅 Tuesday April 1 from 6-8PM
🎟 Free / PWYC
🔗 Sign up at https://bit.ly/vectors_vinyl
🎒 Bring: sketchbook, drawing tools & laptop (if available)

Spots are limited—sign up now!

11/20/2024

📢 Calling all artists, designers, and creatives! 🎨
Join us for our upcoming talk 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗝𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗹 𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘀! Spots are limited, register today.

Learn about the journey and experiences of Marman and Borins as they share professional tips on creative networking, funding, timeline management, and more! Discover how to leverage creative opportunities through professional practices and gain actionable insights to grow your creative career.

📅 Tuesday, December 3rd ⏰ 6:00PM - 8:00PM 📍 Design Fabrication Zone, 110 Bond St (2nd Floor)
🎟️ RSVP at bit.ly/marman_borins_dfz

10/09/2024

Step into a post-human world where plants reclaim technology and communicate with humans! 🌱✨

Join us for artist Cookie Brunel’s solo exhibition “Rare Access Point”, opening on November 5, 6-9pm, at TMU’s Urban Farm Greenhouse. Explore wind-themed sculptures, interact with the installation, and engage in conversations about anti-capitalist and decolonial approaches to technology and sustainability. 🍃💡

🗓️ Date: November 5, 2024
🕕 Time: 6-9pm (drop in anytime!)
📍 Location: DCC Urban Farm Greenhouse, 8th Floor, 288 Church St., Toronto

🔗RSVP link: bit.ly/rare-access-point

Presented by the & . Exhibition runs weekdays, November 5-15.

09/18/2024

🚨 Attention Creative School Students! 🚨
Are you ready to push the boundaries of creative technology and digital fabrication? The 2025 Student Grant Competition is NOW OPEN! 🎉

The Design + Technology Lab (D+TL) and the Design Fabrication Zone (DFZ) are offering up to five $1,000 grants to empower your innovative tech and digital fabrication projects! Whether you’re into AR/VR, 3D printing, robotics, creative computing, or wearable tech, this is your chance to bring your ideas to life.

💡 Eligible Projects: From bioart to photogrammetry, CNC machining to projections, we’re looking for groundbreaking ideas that explore the future of creative fields.

🛠️ What You Get: Access to state-of-the-art tech, tool training, expert mentorship, and up to $1000 in financial support to complete your project!

📅 Key Dates:
• Application Deadline: Nov 18, 2024
• Program Start: Jan 16, 2025
• Project End: June 1, 2025 (UG), Dec 1, 2025 (Grad)

🌟 Who Can Apply: 4th-year undergraduate or graduate students of The Creative School. Projects can be tied to curriculum or independent.

Submit your proposal by Nov 18 at 11:59 PM and take your creative practice to the next level!

🔗 Application Form: https://forms.gle/wDfKco6qwLuaGHX8A

To access the application form, students must be logged into their TMU email ID .For details and to apply, visit the link in bio or email us at [email protected]

09/12/2024

🌟Meet Cookie Brunel, our 2024 Creative in Residence!🌟

Stay tuned for their upcoming workshop this Fall, where they’ll dive into human relationships, plants, and tech degrowth. This non-hierarchical space will spark discussions on degoogling, right to repair, open source, and sustainability. 🌱🔧💬

A former archaeologist, Brunel became disillusioned after witnessing how modern discrimination in archaeological interpretation is widely presented as historical fact. Informed by these experiences, Brunel’s artistic practice argues for the importance of intersectional approaches to research that value subjectivity, bodily knowledge, and poetics. Themes that persist through their research include pedagogy, identity, shapeshifting, surveillance, and waveforms. They strive for an anti-capitalist digital art practice, exploring ideas and movements such as de-growth, de-googling, open source, and the right to repair… and they would love to talk to you about it!

Brunel has exhibited and performed internationally as an artist and musician. They have worked professionally in fabrication and art education, in spaces such as Artscape (RIP), OCADU, and the University of Toronto. They hold degrees in Archaeology and Studio Art from the University of Calgary, the Alberta University of the Arts, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Welcome Cookie to the DFZ! 🎨🌍

For more, visit cookiebrunel.com or follow .refl

08/28/2024

DEADLINE EXTENDED apply for membership today!
🛠️🪛🪚🗜️🧰🔩⚙️

Ready to bring your creative project to life? The Design Fabrication Zone (DFZ) at TMU is now accepting membership applications until midnight, SEPTEMBER 3RD!

Whether you’re a student, staff, faculty, or part of the public, we want to hear from you. Apply for our Start-Up or Experimental Track and join our dynamic community.

Learn more about the application process and apply today! 🔗 https://www.torontomu.ca/zone-learning/
design-fabrication-zone/apply/

08/14/2024

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN! 🚀

Ready to bring your creative project to life? The Design Fabrication Zone (DFZ) at TMU is now accepting membership applications until midnight, August 28th! 🎨✨

Whether you’re a student, staff, faculty, or part of the public, we want to hear from you. Apply for our Start-Up or Experimental Track and join our dynamic community.

Learn more about the application process and apply today! 🔗 https://www.torontomu.ca/zone-learning/design-fabrication-zone/apply/

07/27/2024

🎭Networking a digital performance across multiple cities! Discover how motion capture brings art to life, exploring the collaborative work between and Lu Yang .

🗓️Thursday, August 1st
⏰Doors at 5:15PM, lecture begins at 5:30PM
📍110 Bond St. (2nd floor), The Design Fabrication Zone, TMU Campus

🎟️Tickets are $15 for the lecture (1 hour) or $35 for the lecture and workshop combo (3 hours).
Register at bit.ly/dfz-motion-capture or use our link-in-bio.

07/24/2024

Join us on Tuesday, August 6th, for an inspiring Bioplastic Jewelry workshop with Anastasiya Yatsuk! While we won’t be making bioplastics, you’ll get to craft personalized jewelry using unique and innovative DIY biomaterials from Nastya’s collection. Experiment, create, and take home your handmade pieces. Don’t miss out on this eco-friendly, creative experience! 🌿✨

⏱️When: 5:30-8:30PM, doors open at 5PM
📆 Date: Tuesday, AUG 6th
📍Where: 110 Bond St., Toronto, ON
🔗RSVP: link-in-bio or at bit.ly/bioplastic-jewelry

Check out these beautiful photos from her recent bioyarn project Tender Loops. These biomaterials creatively explore traditional craft techniques like knitting and crochet, blending them with mindful and sustainable material innovation to enhance the longevity of physical objects. 📸 by Adam Whyte.

Anastasiya (Nastya) Yatsuk is an artist and materials researcher from Brooklyn, NY. A DFZ member since 2021, she is the founder of Near Future Objects, a practice dedicated to exploring the intersections of creative biology and multispecies relations. Her work integrates ecological responsibility with technological advancement, aiming to create sustainable futures through innovative manufacturing practices and community engagement. Nastya is the Biomaterial Studios community project lead at Genspace in NYC, the world’s first community biology lab.

Learn more about her practice in this month’s Member Spotlight blogspot!

Address

110 Bond Street
Toronto, ON
M5B1X8

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 5pm
Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 3pm

Website

http://dfz.ryerson.ca/

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