Seattle cartoonist and writer Matthew Inman, better known to the internet as The Oatmeal, is well known for his love of scientist Nikola Tesla.
In 2012, he took that love one step further by raising enough funds to purchase Tesla’s old laboratory and turn it into a museum. While that campaign was successful, it didn’t raise enough to renovate the space and turn it into something usable.
That’s why Inman reached out to Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and got him to kick in $1 million towards the museum, along with a promise to build a Supercharger station at the museum. But Inman still needs to raise a bunch of money, which is why he opened up an Indiegogo page where people can pledge in order to get their own personal design on a brick that will be placed somewhere on the grounds of the Tesla museum.
Donations start at $125 for a 4-inch by 8-inch brick, and rise from there for larger bricks and more complicated designs. People who don’t want to donate that much can purchase Tesla museum shirts and sweatshirts, the profits of which will go to the museum.
As of this writing, the campaign has passed its $200,000 funding goal (enough to repair the roof of Tesla’s lab), and it shows no sign of stopping at the moment. Inman said that all the necessary renovations will cost around $10 million, though he’s planning a number of crowdfunding campaigns to reach that total.
