Bastel­koffer

DIY suitcases | 2022

Bastelkoffer overview

Basteln is one of my favourite German words. It refers to making handicrafts, although it is hard to capture the meaning and feeling of basteln in a compact expression. Bastelkoffer are a suitcases meant for crafts and DIY activities. The concept for the suitcases was developed in spring 2022 for the open educational resources of Digitale Welten, a youth initiative focusing on learning creative skills. The idea was to facilitate giving mobile workshops with a DIY kit, which would be versatile and inspire material explorations. The actual Bastelkoffer were created by Niklas and me in summer 2022 in Frankfurt am Main at a residency program called Fliegendes Künstlerzimmer im Quartier, which is funded by Crespo Foundation.

Recycling cardboard Measuring the suitcases Making boxes

Making Bastelkoffer

As a basis for the Bastelkoffer we bought some used 90s style suitcases. The idea was to create a set of thematic DIY boxes, which can be fitted into the suitcases and taken to an event or a workshop. For this we organised a three-day workshop in which the trainees of the Fliegendes Künstlerzimmer program and Anna Meik from Digitale Welten also participated. The DIY boxes were made from sturdy recycling cardboard harvested from supermarkets.

Suitcase with boxes Box for structural materials Box for decoration materials

Boxes

The boxes contain basic materials and tools such as cardboard, tape, yarn, pens and scissors as well as electronics related items like soldering irons and LEDs. The modular design enables fitting different combinations of boxes into a suitcase according to needs. Niklas and I have given numerous DIY workshops and in our experience it is helpful to keep materials and tools organised, but also be flexible in terms of variety. How materials and tools are presented also has an influence on how they are valued and spark inspiration. A large part of the materials in the Bastelkoffer-boxes were leftovers from old workshops, which received a new life in fancy hand-made compartments and treasure boxes. We hope that the Bastelkoffer inspire some of you to make recycling DIY boxes – or in case you are near Frankfurt, to borrow these ones from Digitale Welten.

Experimentierkasten Informatik Contents of the Experimentierkasten Experimentierkasten Informatik open

Further versions

We continue to develop and explore DIY boxes. In 2023 we collaborated with Professor Verena Kuni from Goethe-Universität Frankfurt in a project called STEAM_PULSE and made a DIY experiment box in the spirit of Computer Science Unplugged. Above are photos of this box, which is called Experimentierkasten Informatik. We are also currently planning an upgraded version of the Bastelkoffer with Digitale Welten for spring 2026.

See also:

Thank you!

We thank Crespo Foundation and Digitale Welten for the opportunity to make the Bastelkoffer happen. Special thanks to Anna Meik for helping with basteling as well as to Nirvana and Marie, who made boxes of their own as a part of the Bastelkoffer workshop.