Re:Make festival attracts creative thinkers in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There's something going on in San Francisco that's part conference, part festival and it's all about making things. ABC7 News takes a look at Fort Mason, where the second annual Re:Make is underway.

San Francisco plays host to hundreds of conferences, but this may be the only one with a giant paint-by-numbers in the front lobby.

"At our core, we're really about instilling creative confidence in adults. I think children have it, but adults have somehow lost it and we're really trying to resurrect that and bring it back," Brit+Co founder and CEO Brit Morin said.

Morin started Re:Make last year. It featured 3-D printers and 3-D printed jewelry. She said, "3D printed metal too, which is great. It's a lot of Internet memes, like WTF, OMG."

This year, it's a little broader.

"We're really focusing this year on the state of the maker movement. What's changing and who is a maker," Morin said.

Here, the answer is just about everybody. It's no accident they're given a box of art supplies to play with while speakers are talking.

"I'm making this fabulous vase, we've got some corkboard and some paint and some washy tape," blogger Rachel Bolton said. Bolton came all the way from Nashville; she was one of 500 selected for this invitation-only conference. "It's like the cream of the crop in here, I've already just been picking people's brains this morning, and really excited to collaborate with some new folks."

It may sound awfully exclusive, but actually, it's anything but that. The second day of Re:Make is a free, public festival where many of these makers will get to show everyone what they're made of."

From inventors to artisans to sponsors with walk-in exhibits, connected things are a big theme here from smart doors to smart light bulbs.

"The future is about, not just making new things, but about connecting those new things. And it's not about connecting those things to an app, but making all those things to talk to each other," Lowe's Smart Home V.P. Kevin Meagher said.

But making isn't only about gadgets. It turns out even traditional crafts are getting a huge boost from technology.

"Because now they can post what they did on Facebook or on Pinterest and they get a lot of positive feedback on what they've done, and it's a great motivator to keep doing more," Michaels V.P. of Education & Products Rebekah Cooksey said.

The Re:Make Festival is Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Fort Mason.