Here is the video
INTRO
Ciao YouTube, I’m THECUZ and this is TheCuzDoes the unconventional DIY Website.
In this post, I will help you to reach your goal to have your own DIY space, your own workshop, by 4 simple tips.
So let’s get into it
PROBLEM
I bet that like I did, you’ve often found yourself repairing your car in the streets or in your driveway, or made your DIY projects in your garden, or even worst, in your dining room. That is because it doesn’t matter if you are a Maker, or if you are a DIY passionate as I am, you always keep asking yourself: “How can I obtain a space where to design and realize all my craft or make my little DIY projects?”
Did I guess it?
I know that the first problem you have to face when you are a Maker is the “workshop”, you always have to find someplace where building your projects or practice your DIY skills. That’s why I want to share with you how I have solved this problem and finally reached the goal to have my own DEN. But before to dig into this problem let me tell you more about me and how I tested and thought about these tips.
I live in Rome, the “Eternal City”. In my city as in all big cities, having a small space where making your creations is difficult and really expensive.
Renting a garage can cost as much as renting a room, not even talking about purchasing one. A single car garage in fact, in some areas, can reach € 100,000.
So how do we get a suitable space for our passion?
SOLUTIONS
For what is my experience I can tell you that useful solutions to this problem are the following 4 tips.
1) FRIEND AND RELATIVES
It might be that some of your friends or relatives have even a tiny little space they don’t use, even a cantine in a dark basement of a big building will be ok. It could be the perfect place to start building your staff or improve your skills.
2) COWORKS AND FABLABS
For those who don’t know these are spaces where it is possible to use machinery and tools together with other users by paying a very reasonable monthly fee. The main feature of this type of solution is that you are not only using space and tools, most of all you are sharing knowledge with other people who are using the cowork and that is as passionate as you are. This will often be a good solution just becouse whit the money you will spend to buy only one of tools you can find in a coowork or in a fablab you could pay the fees needed to get acces to them for years.
This is a link where you can find a list of cowork all around Europe. In this other one instead you can find coworks listed all around the world
3) SELF-MANAGED OCCUPIED SOCIAL CENTER
I’m not sure if these places are so common in North America but in Europe, and specifically in Spain and Italy you can find them in all the big cities, They are called with the acronym C.S.O.A. and generally they are spaces that have fallen into disuse and then have been occupied and converted for social or manufacturing activities. Many of them, a couple even in Rome, offer spaces suitable for reparing, construction and DIY, and also have tools that you could use.
To be able to access them, it is often necessary to present a project and/or participate to the collective activities or maybe have some cleaning shift.
4) RENT or COORENT A SPOT
This is the way I strated when I moved in Rome. As I told you in the Intro another option that could be good for you is to rent a space where to start you “Maker Activity”. Let’s say for example, where you leave rent is not expensive, because you can easily find a workshop for whatever reason, then rent is a good option for you. But if you live in a rental expensive place you could keep costs down by searching for someone who wants to share whit you these types of space. I bet you will soon find someone by posting a request on Facebook!
#whatdoyousuggest
Let me know in the comment section below if you found your workshop in another way I didn’t consider or if you thought about a better way to obtain your desired working space. This could be really helpful for someone else.
Ciao from The Cuz
