Bre Pettis Leaves 'Weekend Projects' to Make Things for Etsy

While the biz-tech community is all a buzz this week about biz-tech videoblogger Robert Scoble making true on rumors by leaving the troubled PodTech Network to start up and run a new media biz-TV network for Fast Company Magazine, the DIY internet world experienced similar changes.

Bre Pettis – the engaging, silver-haired Seatlleite-turned-New Yorker that’s nearly adroit as MacGuyver when creating his own electronic, fashion, and arts & crafts miscellanea – has left his producer position at the do-it-yourself online and print publication, Make Magazine to head up the new new media department at the do-it-yourself, homemade marketplace, Etsy.

Bre has hosted and produced Make’s Weekend Projects since July 2006, teaching audiences everything from the folds of paper airplanes to the intricacies of mellotrons, and is expecting to start similar DIY-themed shows while working with the crew of Etsy’s online magazine, Storque.

Started in June 2005, Etsy is essentially a marketplace for handmade items (with goods that range from stuffed animals to jewelry to felted soap), reconnecting makers with buyers towards an end vision of building a new economy. “Etsy empowers people to make their living by making things and I’m looking forward to making videos that are helpful to them,” Bre said over e-mail. Here’s a site tutorial:

But Bre’s not only going to be in charge of the video department at Etsy, he’s also a client:

“I’ve always loved Etsy. It’s where I buy all my gifts for friends because you can find really awesome and special one-of-a-kind handmade goods there and then have them shipped to where you want them to go. I’m not that good at using the post office so this is a good thing for me!”

While Scoble’s departure is probably the death knell for PodTech, Make is handling the loss of it’s weekend warrior rather well. Associate publisher Dan Woods is “already conspiring to re-launch a totally new approach to Make Weekend Projects in the very near future.” He’ll certainly have some big handcrafted shoes to fill.

I asked Bre for a favorite episode from his stint at Make, but considering he’s been there for over a year-and-a-half’s worth of Saturdays and Sundays, he had a tough time choosing just one – “Ack, it’s hard to pick a favorite. Shovercraft…vampire teeth… zombie makeup…dang, I can’t pick one. Feel free to pick your fave.” – so here’s mine:

Photo Credit: Bre Pettis