Our story
Mematrix is a small DIY hardware lab. We make retro computing and electronics kits, pick Arduino projects, machine models and science kits that we think are worth building, and ship them to makers around the world.
It started in a village house
Mematrix is run by the team behind innoelement (創元素), a maker space in Guangzhou University Town in southern China. It was started by an engineering graduate working in Shenzhen together with a group of science and engineering students from universities in Guangdong, at a time when their campuses had little room for building things by hand.
There was no funding and no support from the universities at first, so the group rented a small house in the urban village just outside University Town and started from zero, with a shared wish to understand how things work by making them.
Before long, students from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts joined in. Engineers learned that a working circuit is not yet a good product; designers learned to use sensors and motors. That mix of engineering and design still guides what we make and what we choose to sell.
Why we make these kits
We believe the best way to understand a computer or a machine is to build one. A TTL computer shows every step of an instruction on the board in front of you; an Apple II reproduction lets you rebuild a piece of history; a boxed science kit turns a principle from a school book into something that moves, lights up or makes a sound.
Browse the result: Retro Computing, ESP32 & Electronics, Arduino Maker Projects, Machine Tool Models and STEM Science Kits.
From maker space to shop
Our first kits were sold under the innoelement name to makers and retro computing fans around the world, and today we ship more than 1,000 items a year across our stores. Mematrix is our own shop, where you can find the whole range in one place and check out securely with PayPal.
We are still a small team, and your messages reach the people who run the shop. If you need a different configuration, a batch for a classroom or a custom board, send us a message.
In the press
- Central News Agency (Taiwan), June 2016 — a feature on student maker spaces in mainland China, including innoelement (創元素) in Guangzhou University Town (in Chinese, republished by China Times).