CRAFT @ Large is a community-engaged making initiative founded by Niti Parikh at Cornell Tech’s MakerLAB to create a sustained, accessible alternative to short-term design events. Created as an alternative to short-term design events, the initiative provides a sustained framework for co-creation with community organizations, cultural institutions, and civic partners. Through collaborative prototyping and fabrication-based workshops, CRAFT @ Large uses making as a method for dialogue—helping partners articulate needs, test ideas, and develop tangible responses to real-world challenges at the intersection of technology, accessibility, education, and the built environment.
CRAFT @ Large collaborates with organizations and project teams seeking solutions through hands-on making, access to advanced digital and physical fabrication tools, and interdisciplinary collaboration. By opening MakerLAB’s resources to non-academic members of the New York City community, the initiative creates pathways for shared experimentation, skill-building, and prototyping that bridge research, education, and public impact.