INTERVIEW: Martina and Hansi from Nerdforge
Who is Nerdforge? If you’re anything like me and roughly 3.7 million other like-minded viewers, you’ve probably tuned in to their wildly popular YouTube channel to watch them bring jaw-dropping creations to life. From crafting a 14,000-page book to building a giant, hand-made set of Brandon Sanderson’s novels, Martina and Hansi spend each episode living the dream of every geeky maker out there. They were kind enough to answer a few of my questions about their builds, motivations, and what it’s like to be full-blown YouTube darlings. And if you haven’t tuned in before? Trust me—you will once you get to know them.
Martina and Hansi from Nerdforge[GdM] Let’s start at the beginning. Your projects blend art, engineering, and storytelling. What experiences shaped your creative philosophy?
[Both] Most of our projects are heavily influenced by our interests. We don’t necessarily have one creative vision for our videos or projects, but we bounce around the subjects that interest us at a particular moment. Combine that with us having two very different skillsets it opens the door for quite a lot of fun and otherwise difficult projects.
[GdM] What’s your process like from the initial idea to the finished video? Do you script, storyboard, or build as you go? Do you have a dedicated shooting schedule for each step? A la Monday, we storyboard, Tuesday we write scripts, etc.
[Hansi] We have many different skillsets, but being organized is sadly not one of them, so things usually happen as they happen for each project. This works when we are a team of only two, but we are definitely working on having a bit more structure! We store our ideas in a project management system, where we write it all down, good or bad, and then we do multiple rounds of filtering before we have an idea to proceed with.
[GdM] What has been the most technically challenging project you’ve ever done—and how did you push through?
[Hansi] Our most technically challenging project is probably our Wizard Study build. Being a full scale set required a lot of planning and testing techniques to achieve different faux textured finishes on foam, plus the whole window is a virtual-reality position tracked realtime Unreal Engine simulation, which means that if we shift the camera angle, so does the background! Really fun stuff, but also quite tricky to set up.
[GdM] You’ve built a huge community online—how do you think audience interaction has shaped Nerdforge over time?
[Martina] Working together is great, but only being two people in our studio can make us feel isolated from the rest of the world, so sometimes it’s really nice to meet real people that watch our content, like we do at many of the maker conventions we attend (e.g. OpenSauce and Maker’s Central). All the people that show up to say hi really makes our day, and gives us a motivational boost to go back home and make even cooler stuff!
[GdM] Have you ever made something just for yourself, no camera rolling? How did it feel, and what was it?
[Hansi] We create stuff all the time without the camera rolling, but not in the same way like we do on our YouTube channel. Martina paints a lot, that’s her thing and she could do it all day, everyday! I am more inclined to text, and I like to work on worldbuilding. fictional writing, coding or game development. Needless to say, my interests fluctuate a lot.
[GdM] If a fantasy or sci-fi character commissioned you to build something, who would it be—and what would you make?
[Both] We’d love to help out on a home-renovation project in Hobbiton!
[GdM] What do you think is the most useful tool you have in your shop, and why?
[Martina] That’s a very difficult question to answer, as I think it really depends on the project. With the wide variety of things we make we also end up using a wide range of tools—but one tool I always use, no matter the project, is my sketchbook! Every project we do starts with a plan—pencil and paper, or an iPad sketch. It’s also something I keep coming back to during each project, sketching out changes, mechanisms, details, designs, etc. Maybe a bit of a “meta” tool, but it’s my most useful one for sure!
[Hansi] One tool alone rarely gets the job done, but I’d say the 3D-printer is probably the one I get the most use out of. It can be used for so many things that would be impossible to do just a few years back.
[GdM] Speaking of specific builds that are beloved, we have to discuss the glorious Brandon Sanderson build. Why Brandon Sanderson? Out of all the fantasy authors to draw from, what made his work the one you wanted to celebrate in such a big way?
[Both] Brandon Sanderson is just a great guy and his team is fantastic, making that such an easy video collaboration. When we pitched the idea to the team at Dragonsteel they did everything they could to make it happen, they even got us the rights to reprint all the books from the publisher itself. Anyone who’s involved in the book industry knows that is not necessarily an easy task, especially with such a large publisher. Honestly, before we pitched the idea, we thought it would be impossible. Otherwise, the books are great and we love BIG BOOKS (which Brandon obviously does as well) so I think it was a natural fit.
[GdM] You used a lot of detailed carving and lighting in this build—what part was the most fun, and which nearly broke your soul?
[Martina] The most fun part for me was definitely stamping the leather and actually seeing that the design I had made on paper, worked in real life. But, making the stamps wasn’t a lot of fun, it was messy work as we used UV-resin to cure acrylic cutouts to a supporting backplate. And we had to make over 20 rather complex stamps…! But, it was worth it!
[GdM] Were there any Easter eggs or references hidden in the piece that only a hardcore Sanderson fan would catch?
[Martina] Yes! Both in the colors of the books and the symbols on the covers.
[GdM] As someone who is obsessed with coffee, your coffee/computer build is the stuff of dreams. Did you have any moments of, “We should NOT be mixing hot liquids with expensive electronics,” when building the coffee computer or was that part of the fun?
[Hansi] People mix liquids with computers all the time when water-cooling! The comment we get the most on this video is people being worried about cooling, as the coffee-machine obviously produces some heat when making coffee. To all the worriers out there, I will say: The machine makes coffee for around 60 seconds, it’s not running 24/7 (and the thermals don’t seem to be impacted either way, during the brewing). My biggest concern was the hot steam blowing over the components and leaving moisture on them. So we decided to have the computer ventilate out the front instead of back, pushing the steam out, instead of pulling it in and above the motherboard. Unconventional, but it works.
[GdM] When you had your pinkie accident, was your first thought, “Okay, this is my chance to build a badass cyborg finger”? What was the process like in creating it—was it more difficult than you expected? Do you still use it? And have you heard from any viewers in the disabled community who connected with it or found it inspiring?
[Martina] I had a lot of people reach out to me after the finger-build video that found it inspiring, which is very heartwarming. I will say, the finger is really cool, but the functionality is very limited, so maybe it’s time for an upgrade! I still use it from time to time, but only when it’s to complete a look.
[GdM] For the future, what new medium do you want to try? Do you have any dream builds you’re planning that you can share?
[Hansi]: Larger builds with a purpose are always more fun, e.g. bigatures that will be displayed somewhere, instead of collecting dust in our warehouse. More challenging set builds would be fun as well. The main issue in our studio is we are running out of space to build sets, we already have a Fallout kitchen and a Wizard Study!
[GdM] Martina and Hansi, the heart and soul of Nerdforge, aren’t just YouTube creators—they are magicians of imagination. They turn glue guns, LEDs, and their trusty 3D printer into full-blown nerd magic. Whether they’re building fantasy libraries, creating coffee-maker computers, painting incredible cyberpunk cities, or just inspiring the rest of us to look at our hot glue sticks with newfound interest, Nerdforge continues to inspire the makers, the dreamers, and the builders across the world. We watch, we learn, we make.
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This interview was first published in Grimdark Magazine Issue #43
The post INTERVIEW: Martina and Hansi from Nerdforge appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.
