My first 3 workshops

a woodworker's memoir, pt. 4

[soundtrack : VOCES8 sings an a cappella version of 'Hope is the Thing with Feathers' by Christopher Tin]

Advisement: This post will mostly contain pictures of my previous workshops — some of them of atrocious quality. Unless you are a workshop voyeur by persuasion, this might be of limited interest.

I started my one-man band and became self-employed in 2007. The opportunity arose when I was put in touch with another furniture-maker who was looking for someone to share a small shop space with. Well … I say shop space, it was an office space of sorts before we moved in and appropriated it for our dusty purposes. It was located by the river in the scruffy part of downtown and I was living on a boat in the harbour at the time so it was within walking distance. Here’s m’colleague:

The rent was ridiculously cheap which was just as well because I didn’t have any customers to speak of. I did, however, hire an accountant from day one. This has been money very well spent. My books are still professionally kept by the same woman in an accredited, registered accountancy firm, and since I have never cheated or indulged in any form of dishonesty in my business dealings I sleep untroubled like a cat dreaming of sunny windowsills and can look any man in the eye. The taxman can inspect my books any time he wants — I have nothing to hide.

I do good work, am scrupulously honest and speak forthrightly with my customers. I do not compete on price; I make things you cannot find elsewhere; It will be expensive. I do not promise things I cannot keep, and never underestimate the price. There is no point in trying to compete with IKEA. This has worked well for me so far; I’ve never had to chase any payments and the customers seem genuinely pleased to do business with me.

I grew up in a time before digital cameras and smartphones; people did not go around taking pictures of themselves and their food all the time — this was before narcissism went mainstream, and I’ve been slow to catch up. I still don’t have a smartphone. Therefore I have few pictures of my first workshop, and those that exist have a smudged, out-of focus aesthetique that is … slightly nauseating ? Judge for yourself:

we had a fairly dust-free small lacquer- / painting-room behind the door

My mate had a Felder 4-combi machine to help us alleviate the drudgery - a good little machine!

did some good work in that shop, too

A couple of years later I was offered to rent a bigger workshop from this Master Builder:

His wife had trained as a furniture maker at the same school I went to (a few years before me), and even did her apprenticeship at the Gjelstad workshop where I too had worked — it’s a small trade in a small town, this… Because of back-problems, she could no longer do woodworking, so they were looking for someone to rent the shop with machines. Enter yours truly.

bigger job, more money

After some years at that address we had to move because the building was destined for demolition. We moved closer to town. Same crew, same machines, warmer building and no leaking skylights.

That’ll do for now, don’t you think ?