Building A New Workshop in San Francisco

San Francisco will soon be getting a new community workshop. As a part of an organization, myself and others are building Sequoia Fabrica. It will be a non-profit community workshop with the mission to provide access to tools and knowledge without the barriers to entry at many for-profit organizations. Since opening our doors in March, we've also distinguished ourselves by offering a wide variety of workshops and classes which is all thanks to the members and volunteers who have founded and kept the space going.

I am the President and Woodshop Grove leader for the time being. I hope as Sequoia grows, we're able to add more members willing to take on leader and instructor roles. So far, it's been going well, although I'll say I think starting anything that requires money and legal establishment can be a bit stressful.

What I really look forward to doing is running classes and building an inspiring space. I've looked at other Bay Area woodshop classes, and the pricing is absurd. I don't fault the small businesses for charging $300 for a stool making class, because they are trying to make a living from it, and I think that's a great think. But I don't think that should be the only option. If you want to pay $300 to make a stool, or learn basic woodworking, I think you should do that, and you will probably get a more refined experience for it. What myself and the others at Sequoia are concerned about is the missing tier below that. We want to offer classes for cheap, led by volunteers who are doing it just because they care to, without the pressure of needing to do it for income. Many people have all these different hobbies they could talk about, or put to practice without end. Our space is for those people. It's for sharing, building, and learning. Long-term, I would like to be able to host classes that are completely free, including materials cost. We can do this if we're able to build a strong enough foundation of donors, and hopefully some grant money, and that will take time. To me, that time and effort will be worth it, because we'd be radically breaking down the barrier to entry for people to get into fine crafts and maker culture.

I don't think the "class/event" structure is for everyone. Some spaces like Noisebridge, which I've mentioned before haven't made that the priority focus, and that works for them. Some makerspaces, or whatever you choose to call them aren't prioritizing events as a way of serving the community. I wish there was more of this across the board, but I also understand some spaces might prefer to harbor an environment where members can just make use of the equipment at their disposal. Sequoia does give members 24/7 access to use the space for their personal projects, but it is also made clear this is not a rental workshop. Members are as much volunteers as they are space users. So to be a member, you kind of have to buy in to the idea that what we're doing is of benefit to the community and you are down to help with that.

I like classes. I like taking them and I like teaching them. I'm not an expert craftsman, but you don't need to be an expert to teach a class, you just need to know a little more about the trade than what you will get to in the class. An elementary school math teach doesn't need to know Calculus to be a great teacher.