Sometimes I just want to grab my neighborhood by the face and furiously make-out with it until my hair is disheveled and I can’t find my left shoe.

The desire hit me hard this Sunday when I discovered that half way between our beloved old Baker apartment and the Golden Gate flat is a new spot that is sure to become my second home. It’s as if someone cloned my soul and out of the petri dish grew a little shop with big windows and brick walls… an innovative place to grow ideas, make things, connect, explore…. Welcome to Workshop.

The brain child of one of my favorite gals in the city, Kelly Malone, Workshop is a place for anyone and everyone who ever wanted to make something with their own hands. They offer education, tools and inspiration for wanna-be and seasoned d.i.yers. I pulled this descrip of their fall class schedule from their website:

“Screen printing, starting your own t-shirt line, interior design, tools and carpentry, pattern making, clothing reconstruction, bicycle maintenance, container gardening, kombucha making, canning and pickling, wine tasting for the beer guzzler, and printmaking. There will be a series of project-based workshops (especially around the holidays) that will teach you skills such as how to make a dog bed, how to build a lamp out of a whiskey bottle, how to rebuild old dresser drawers into shadowboxes, and how to make a compact coat rack for your tiny apartment. There will also be a business-oriented series for makers who have an amazing product line, but need to fill in the blanks on how to do the craft show circuit, how to market over the web, or how to build display fixtures for their products. Kelly has even lined up hot, tattooed personal trainers to teach such classes as death metal aerobics, yacht rock yoga, and rock & roll kickboxing. But when asked which class has her the most excited, Kelly answers with no hesitation: Rock’n’roll Sewing for Dudes.”

Workshop sounds like a special heaven where the clouds are bedazzled with tiny jewels and the angels all wear wings they made themselves from vintage fabric out of their grandmas attic.

If you want a sneak peek of things, the opening party for Workshop is this Saturday night:
September 19th, 7-11pm
1798 McAllister Street @ Baker
Featuring DJ Mother Barry on the decks
Live silk screening & DIY fun for all.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. See you crafty peeps there.

Love,

M