Part II: Organizing a bookbinding studio

The next day I came back to the luminous studio in Madrid’s well-known Alcala street to complete the final part of the project: organizing two more pieces of furniture.

At first glance, the first piece of furniture seemed like it would be quite complicated, since it was a large support table, used daily and covered with many things. In any case, my instinct told me that we could take better advantage of the space and to apply a method of order that would be easier to follow. As usual, my first step was to remove all the objects piled up on the table and to clean the surface.

Before:

Cleared up:

When I got to this point, I consulted with the client so that she could tell me what could be disposed of and what should be kept. In this way, I could begin categorizing things. Once I categorized everything, I placed them on the long table again. What I found was that many of the previously stored things did not really need to be kept there, so as a result, there were fewer things to accommodate.

What most dominated on the table were colourful rolls of leather that the client, and her students, used to bind books. I took a box the size of a shoe box and rolled-up the leather according to colour. In this way, they would find it easier to find what they needed for work. The rest of the table was easy to organize, all I had to do was make separate piles by category (as mentioned earlier, this is a support table, not generally used for working on).

The second, and last, piece of furniture to work on, a set of shelves, was simpler since all I was asked to do was to organize the contents. The shelves were made up of several planks of wood that served as open drawers. The content of the shelves was used for a very specific phase in bookbinding and they are used very frequently, which is why the shelves are easily un-tidied.

Before:

After:

In total, it took me 8 hours (5 on the first day, 3 on the second day) to complete the project. I consulted with the client throughout the entire process to accomplish the most suitable organizing for her needs. For a project as complex as organizing a work space which is rather artistic in nature, I realized that the most important characteristic needed to meet objectives is: good listening skills.