Panoptic Design/Build

The Farm in the Woods is open! We were honored to attend the ribbon cutting this week, and have been living off of the sweet and funny interactions we overhear from visitors and the nice comments we get - we are SO glad that you all are loving this new space!!

Swipe to see some before and after pics, and read on for some more information...

This exhibit is open to museum patrons only during museum hours, and open to the public from dawn to dusk outside of museum hours. If you're in the Westfield area, please drop in and then ping us about how much you like it (ok, be honest).

So far, the Tractor and the Three Bears' Cottage seem to be neck in neck for most popular.. aside from the cow of course, who continues to reign as champion of the museum. But my personal fave is the herb garden. There are sooo many gentle bees (and a goldfinch!) buzzing around the sunflowers and purple flowering thyme. And the facts on the signs are interesting too! Such a relaxing place to hang out.

We thoroughly enjoyed this summer build. Now a bit more tanned and toned, we're delighted to be passing it off to the museum for the enjoyment of hundreds of visitors each week. We hope it creates delightful memories for Westfield families for decades to come.

alg0rithm... munchy munchy!:
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Here at Panoptic we like to say -- when life gives you a big fork project, you let the office manager use their basic photoshop skills to recreate a famous painting 🤷

This prototype gold fork was created for and was our first foam coat project! We were so excited for the opportunity to develop new skills and had a lot of fun along the way. If you're lucky, you might spot the finished gold fork in New York City soon...

From humble beginnings to bigger spaces, better tools, and wider skillsets, we're celebrating two years of Panoptic! We have loved every minute of it and are so proud of the company we're continuing to build.

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Starting with a borrowed table saw and two filing cabinets for desks, Evan and Terra showed the museum community what dedication to creativity, robust design and safety could look like. Midway through our first year, we were pleasantly surprised to be outgrowing our initial shop space and moved into our current home. In our second year, we've only continued to expand adding three new employees, widening our abilities, all while creating some pretty cool custom projects along the way.

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We could not be more grateful to all those who believed in us from the beginning, offering us their old garage tools and continued emotional support. Additionally, we are so grateful to all of our clients -- past, present, and future -- who allow us to do what we love for a living. We are so excited for what the future holds and can't wait to see what cool things we come up with next!

Panoptic is on TV! Terra was on this morning with Executive Director of Diane Chambers to discuss the upcoming outdoor play and learning space coming this summer, Farm in the Woods. This farm and nature exhibit features a barn, garden, sand play, a cottage full of forest creatures, and even an "underground" maze. We've been pouring our hearts into it for months now, and ground has broken at the museum! Come play and watch the construction out the window :) then come back later this summer to be the first to play in it!

Watch the 5-minute segment at www.wwlp.com/massappeal

Many thanks to the folks at WWLP for the warm welcome, studio tour, and helping us feel comfortable on set!

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We’re celebrating Nate’s one year at Panoptic! Nate was our very first accomplice, coming to us from the incredible , and he quickly became our electronics, 3D printing, and CNC aficionado. You can often find him in the shop tinkering, soldering, and troubleshooting many a project’s hardware and software. Most recently, he made a sample of a topographic map for the using contour routing and a whole lot of fancy tool pathing. We think it came out pretty great! We’re constantly pulling on Nate’s experience working directly with kids and families and his science and tech background to make our exhibits more fascinating, accessible, and fun. Thanks for sticking with us, Nate!