Workshop Wren

A room of one's own is a well-loved cliche. Virginia Woolf wanted a generous space. Jane Austen made do with a desk in a passageway.  So it goes with a workshop. David X. Manners was a 20^th century editor of a craft and diy magazine for 20 years before he wrote ‘How to plan and build your workshop’ He admitted that as a general rule the more space the better but there were important qualifications.  Natural daylight, music, easy access, headroom and storage are far more important. Wonders have been done in a cupboard if it is the right sort of cupboard. In the era of ingenuity, it was possible to get the Shopsmith (a wood-working all-in-one) which fitted along the side of a garage accompanied by a workbench cabinet which folded against the garage wall. Even more ingenious was the folding Dorbak which could be hung on a cupboard door.

Little house in the big woods. A spacious yet cosy workshop has long been Malcolm's dream

All these starter workshops have their merits but they have left Malcolm even keener on purpose-built premises. His creative life began in a generously proportioned meter cupboard and progressed to my grandfather’s ‘shack’. Though not ideal, they gave him an idea of what he wanted. He wanted brightness and airyness, space round the machine tools and a clear floor. Anything dropped could then be retrieved by a couple of sweeps of a broom. Sarah in tuirn wanted it to be warm. Otherwise, any space would be unusable for half the year. Unless a certain temperature was maintained, anything stored would rot and anyone capable of movement would migrate somewhere warmer.   Space and temperature were among the luxuries which on reflection turn out to be wise investments.

Being parked. This is one vehicle you will find in the new garage. Wrightscale 16mm Wren

Thanks to cooperative neighbours, the workshop is large. This should give space for the range of machine tools which have overlapping uses. Malcolm could make do with one large and one small turning lathe, for example, both working at the very limits of their design capacity, but better and more efficient to have several, each working at its optimum.

There is another condition the workshop has to satisfy. It has to take a car.   So the garage has a clear space and suitable access for a car. When the space is needed for an assembly project, the car simply lives outside. Unlike the usual garage door, these doors are fully glazed, letting in precious daylight.

Vehicke ready to leave its garage. Wrightscale 16mm Wren

Unlike the neighbours, the planners do not admit to the existence of the soul. They were willing to grant permission for a garage-workshop, but not a workshop as we already have one.

Daylight is the greatest indulgence. We promised to concentrate the windows away from our neighbours and towards the view. Platitudes have been uttered about natural light lifting the spirits. They hide a greater truth. We perish without light and a view on to greenery. 

Here comes the paradox. Malcolm needed storage. Storage requires space, insurance and heating – the enemy, you might think, of light and room to move. Many have argiued that keeping stuff for repair and reuse makes little sense in the world of Amazon, Gumtree and ebay when new or second-hand possessions are only a mouse-click away.  Possessions generate negative income and anxiety, not to mention trip-hazards. 

But Malcolm is getting his storage. Even before the shed was built, he had acquired cupboards and display-shelves, massive items which are themselves a pain to store. His own collection of models will be going there, including items which have no value to anyone else. More than just mess and traps for dust, they add up to an expression of identity. What goes on in the mind is more than just a series of brain-waves, interesting as those may be. If they don’t involve hand and eye, not to mention sharing, memories gradually flatten out and cease to be. Life is incomplete otherwise.

Are you sure you have enough light? The folding garage doors double as windows.

The same applies to adequate headroom. Hours spent in claustrophobic conditions cramp the spirit. The same applies to music and a suitable chair for thinking through a problem.  Action may be possible in soul-destroying conditions but anything creative is not.

The workshop was erected from a kit on Monday 15th April. On that  day, the cathedral of Notre Dame burned. We are among the many who feel an affinity with that gracious cathedral so we are calling our own little place the Notre Dame Works - our own small tribute.

Why two Wrens? The answer is the answer any enthusiast will give 'I can't bear to part with either'

Of course, if Malcolm gets his stuff out of the house, Sarah will have more room for hers inside.

Another view of a pair of Wrightscale Wrens