The Daily Make | Making the many.
Organising, hands on projects, and practical electronics to inspire creativity, efficiency, and learning in shared workshops.
Morning in the workshop today starts with order: labelling, sorting, and carving out space for projects to breathe. Small adjustments. Shifting a cupboard or a sewing machine to turn a little chaos into workflow. Making hands on creativity feel effortless and inviting.
The day starts with sorting and labelling. Last month, I divided all stock, projects, and miscellaneous items (such as spare cables) between the old cupboard (pictured) and the newly built one. The old cupboard now holds all day to day materials and consumable stock, so in time others can stock up as needed. The other cupboard is replacement items (fire door stops, SD cards),and few small expensive items people can request. Also while I don’t have an office or desk, having a secure place to store my work laptop, key documents, and things I’m working is helpful.
From there, I shifted to a more hands-on task. Applying a coat of beeswax to a demo laser-cut piece. A chopping board with resin in the engraved section for an upcoming discussion with the Møller Centre (Executive Education).
A key principle in setting up and using shared workshops is that things don’t need to look perfect, but everything should have a designated place, and a small gap between items greatly improves usability and prevents overlap. Moving the sewing machine slightly has freed up the cubby holes and created space for a few plants without obstructing the workbenches, seating area, or doorway.
Next, I tackled an area I’ve been behind on for months: electronics. Over six months ago, someone involved in the Creative Workshops suggested adding more hands on, practical electronics and soldering activities. I was really into this especially since the tech focused digital side of things has not taken off despite significant investment, so it was a relief he didn’t want more of that. Interest has been modest so far, but today, while putting up posters outside the building, a student who hasn’t used the workshops yet mentioned she hadn’t soldered since doing it with her dad as a child and was interested to try again. No huge, but every little bit helps.
The Daily Make | Jonathan Woolf