OBJECTIVE
The objective of the MAKING & PERSONALIZATION module is to equip facilitators with the knowledge and structure necessary to introduce making as a human-centred, inclusive, and accessible design practice within wellbeing-oriented interior design processes, applicable across different levels of technological intensity.
The module demonstrates that customisation does not depend on a specific technology, but on the ability to guide participants in listening, adapting, and transforming materials into meaningful objects that respond to real needs. FabLab principles – co-creation, experimentation, and personalisation – can be activated using simple tools, portable equipment, or more advanced digital fabrication technologies.
Rather than focusing on technical specialisation, the module supports facilitators in structuring making activities that are scalable, context-sensitive, and aligned with participatory design values.
By the end of the module, facilitators will be able to:
- Understand the principles of digital fabrication and making across different technological intensities;
- Design and facilitate object-customisation activities using replicable and adaptable techniques;
- Support participants in translating emotional, sensory, and user-journey insights into tangible artefacts;
- Organise collaborative making processes in permanent, mobile, or temporary makerspaces;
- Recognise making as a strategy that strengthens participation, ownership, confidence, and wellbeing within spatial design processes.
CONTEXT
Many social and educational environments do not have uniform access to fully equipped FabLabs. At the same time, other contexts may benefit from more advanced digital fabrication tools.
However, FabLab culture is not defined by machines alone. Its core values – openness, experimentation, co-creation, and personalization – can be activated in any setting, regardless of technological level.
Within the WellHome training programme, this module highlights that care-driven design is not a matter of technological intensity, but of intention.
In this context, making becomes an act of proximity, capable of building trust, participation, and agency even in fragile settings.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the module is to empower learners to design and customise objects by adapting tools, materials, and processes to the available context, focusing on responsiveness and adaptability rather than technical complexity.
By working with hand tools, pre-cut elements, modular components, and accessible digital devices (such as tablets, smartphones, or basic fabrication machines), learners experience the full design process –from idea to object – in a way that is inclusive and confidence-building.
The module reinforces the idea that customisation is a design attitude, not a technological level.
PREPARATION
- Download the presentation to introduce the MAKING & PERSONALIZATION module
- print the LEARNER HANDOUT
- Organise portable manual tools (hand drills, screwdrivers, cutters, scissors, rulers, clamps)
- Prepare optional electric tools, if available (portable laser cutter / mini 3D printer / vinyl cutter)
- Select and organise materials (cardboard, plywood, cork, textiles, felt, rope, rubber, recycled materials such as wood offcuts or packaging)
- Provide digital support if needed (printed templates, tablets or smartphones for viewing simple models or references)
- Ensure safety equipment is available (gloves, goggles) and prepare clear safety instructions
- Set up a welcoming, organised, and quiet working environment with clearly defined workstations
DURATION
2,5 – 3 hours divided into:
- Introduction to FabLab principles, tools, and safety
- Design translation (from needs and emotion to object)
- Hands-on customisation
- Sharing and collective reflection
The module is highly scalable: it can be delivered as a single workshop or distributed across multiple shorter sessions, adapting depth and tools to the context.
CONCLUSION
At the end of the activity, learners present a customised object, explaining the intention behind its design and making process.
The focus is not on finish or technological sophistication, but on meaning. Learners are invited to reflect on:
What personal or final user need the object responds to;
- How material and tool choices influence comfort and usability;
- How the act of making affected their sense of agency and involvement.
The objects become visible traces of care, capable of transforming spaces and relationships.
RELEVANCE TO SPACE RENOVATION
When applied in renovation or co-design contexts, customised objects act as micro-transformations that humanise space.
While large-scale structural interventions may require time, funding, and technical expertise, small-scale object interventions can produce immediate and visible impact. They operate at a human scale, directly influencing how space is used, perceived, and experienced on a daily basis.
Customised objects can:
- Improve orientation, storage, or functional clarity;
- Create identifiable reference points within complex layouts;
- Introduce tactile comfort or sensory variation;
- Support routines and autonomy through practical adaptations;
- Act as symbolic markers of participation and ownership.
- Personalise shared environments and reduce anonymity;
In temporary or transitional housing, where instability and standardisation often dominate, these micro-interventions help reintroduce identity and recognisability. A customised shelf, divider, storage element, or lighting modification can significantly alter the perception of belonging and control.
This demonstrates an essential principle of wellbeing-oriented renovation: meaningful spatial improvement does not always depend on structural transformation. It can also emerge through intentional, small-scale design actions that reconnect people with their environment.
These interventions are particularly powerful in contexts where vulnerable populations live, where identity, stability, and personal expression are often limited – regardless of the technological level used to produce them.
Made with love by Wellhome team
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
