Bre Pettis

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Bre Pettis
Pettis at the 26th Chaos Communication Congress, December 2009
Born (1972-07-14) July 14, 1972 (age 51)
EducationEvergreen State College (BA)[1]
Pacific Oaks College (Education, teaching certificate)
Known forco-founder and former CEO of MakerBot Industries

Bre Pettis (born July 14, 1972)[2] is an American entrepreneur, video blogger and creative artist. Pettis is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of MakerBot Industries, a 3D printer company now owned by Stratasys.[3][4]

Early life and education[edit]

Pettis was raised in Ithaca, New York, a childhood spent climbing trees and playing in the woods independent and self-reliant.[5] At the age of 13 he moved to the Seattle area, where he later graduated from Bellevue High School.[6] Pettis is a 1995 graduate of The Evergreen State College,[7][8] where he studied psychology, mythology and performing arts.[9][10]

After college, Pettis worked as floor runner and camera assistant on feature films in Prague and as an assistant at Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London.[11] He then attended Pacific Oaks College and graduated with a teaching certificate.[8] He worked as a teacher for the Seattle Public Schools from 1999 through 2006.[12]

Career[edit]

After graduating and working on various films in Europe, Pettis moved to London and began working at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and making super-custom animatronics, or high-performance robots. Pettis learned prototyping here, as well as building one-of-a-kind things from scratch, allowing him to eventually be paid for his work.[5]

He is also known for DIY video podcasts for MAKE,[13] and for the History Hacker pilot on the History Channel.[14] He is one of the founders of the Brooklyn-based hacker space NYC Resistor.[15]

Pettis is a co-founder and former CEO[3] of MakerBot Industries, a company that produces 3D printers[13] now owned by Stratasys. Besides being a TV host and Video Podcast producer, he's created new media for Etsy.com, hosted Make: Magazine's Weekend Projects podcast, and has been a schoolteacher, artist, and puppeteer. He was the artist-in-residence of art group monochrom at Museumsquartier Vienna in 2007.[16][17]

Pettis was featured in the documentary film Print the Legend.[18]

He left Makerbot in 2014.[19]

In June 2017, Pettis acquired start-up Other Machine Co. — now called Bantam Tools — from its founder and CEO, Danielle Applestone.[20] In November 2019, Bantam Tools moved their facilities to Peekskill, New York.[21] In January 2024, Bantam Tools announced that it had acquired Evil Mad Scientist,[22] known for the AxiDraw, a computer-controlled drawing and handwriting machine.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Shea, Carolyn, "Making It: Educator, entrepreneur, and creator extraordinaire, Bre Pettis ’95 is a full-blown celebrity in the do-it-yourself, business, and tech worlds" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, The Evergreen Magazine, Fall 2013 issue
  2. ^ "CNBC Next List: Bre Pettis". CNBC. October 6, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Bre Pettis Interview on Founder Stories". MakerBot Industries. June 30, 2011. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  4. ^ Dwyer, Jim (March 4, 2011). "Kittens With Jet Packs? Not Yet, but These Inventors Are on It". The New York Times. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  5. ^ a b Roberts, Barbara (January 2022). "Flight paths Selling a business is just the beginning" (PDF). UBS Financial Services Inc. (“UBS”). pp. 11–12.
  6. ^ Soper, Taylor (June 19, 2013). "Jeff Bezos-backed 3D-printing company MakerBot acquired for $403M". GeekWire.
  7. ^ "Evergreen magazine: News & Notes (page 20)" (PDF). The Evergreen State College. Fall 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  8. ^ a b "Bre Pettis". BusinessInsider.com. Archived from the original on Oct 8, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  9. ^ "The CNBC Next List: Bre Pettis". CNBC. October 6, 2014.
  10. ^ "How Bre Pettis Gained Incredible Entrepreneurial Success". Expert Money. June 28, 2017.
  11. ^ Oremus, Will (September 21, 2012). "The Steve Jobs of Useless Plastic Trinkets". Slate.
  12. ^ "Bre Pettis, innovator, artist and advanced manufacturing pioneer, to receive honorary degree; speak at SUNY New Paltz Undergraduate Commencement". SUNY New Paltz News. March 23, 2015.
  13. ^ a b Downes, Laurence (April 10, 2010). "Geeks on a Train". The New York Times. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  14. ^ Baichtal, John (September 5, 2008). "History Hacker: Bre Pettis explains Tesla". Wired.com. Retrieved October 30, 2008.
  15. ^ Lee, Kevin (April 29, 2013). "Get a peek inside NYC Resistor and see where the maker revolution started". PCWorld.
  16. ^ "Seven on Seven 2011". Rhizome. May 14, 2011.
  17. ^ "MakerBot hat seinen Ursprung in Wien und würde sich an HP verkaufen". 3druck. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  18. ^ Zaleski, Andrew (December 1, 2016). "The 3D Printing Revolution That Wasn't". WIRED.
  19. ^ Williams, Alex (2016-11-02). "3-D Printing Pioneer Goes Low Tech, With a $5,800 Watch Made in Brooklyn". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-12-29.
  20. ^ Evangelista, Benny (June 2, 2017). "MakerBot founder Bre Pettis takes another run at DIY revolution". San Francisco Chronicle.
  21. ^ "Look inside Peekskill's new Bantam Tools high-tech manufacturing facility". November 18, 2019.
  22. ^ "Bantam Tools Acquires Evil Mad Scientist to Accelerate Development of Next Generation Art and Handwriting Machines". Retrieved 14 March 2024.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bre Pettis.
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