Green Woodworking with Oxford Brookes University

Architecture students
at LGW workshop.

We hosted a group of architecture students from Oxford Brookes University for a two-day introduction to green wood working. Over the course of two days students had a chance to make a turned stool leg on our lathes. They will be taking the legs back to their studio to assemble a collective piece of furniture. They also used axes and knives to carve a ‘spoon’ inspired component for a collaborative construction project.

The students were very quick learners, and it was great to see them applying their architectural 3D thinking to the practical crafts of whittling and turning. They worked hard and produced some very creative and successful work. We can’t wait to see what they do with all the things they made. We hope that this experience will benefit them in their architectural education and hopefully inform their thinking in the future.

Pole lathe turning with Yoav Kafets


Bowl turning course
at Hackney City Farm.

We were so lucky to have hosted the talented Yoav Kafets at our workshop a few weeks back.

Yoav taught a one day improver’s bowl turning course aimed at people with previous experience on the pole lathe. He also taught a two day course, giving participants the opportunity to dive deeper into pole lathe techniques as well as turning at least one bowl and one cup!

All students came away with a greater appreciation of the craft as well as a thirst to continue creating stunningly beautiful and ergonomic every-day objects.

Here are some photo highlights from the courses he taught that weekend.

If pole lathe turning is something you want to explore, you can sign up to a one day course with one of London Green Wood’s experienced turners.

Shoreditch Design Triangle 2023

London Green Wood will be exhibiting a selection of hand made chairs during London Design Festival alongside Shoreditch Design Triangle. This year, the festival runs from the 16-24 September.

The chairs have been made from fresh logs from tree surgeons. This wood, quite often from wind blown trees, is usually seen as waste wood, and either chipped or burnt.

Of the tens of thousands of trees lost in London every year, we save a few to make unique chairs and stools ( & spoons, bowls, cups, sculpture, etc).

Using various techniques with a long history, the logs are transformed into beautiful and functional furniture, which will last for generations.

Event Times

20th – 24th September 2023
10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Hackney City Farm, E2 8QA

The London Green Wood workshop at Hackney City Farm will be open 20th-24th September for demonstrations, workshops (pre-booking essential) and an exhibition of their work.

See online

www.shoreditchdesigntriangle.com/events/hand-made-chairs-london-green-wood/

Pole lathe safety

Flying spindles

One of the things about pole lathe turning, is that the work can come loose and fly off the lathe. If turning bowls, the weight of the bowl and mandrel means the work will come loose and fall onto the floor. But with spindle turning (long thin things like chair legs) the work can really fly. So, Spencer has designed an attachment to our pole lathes which can catch flying spindles.

Here’s a video of it in action.

This is what our risk assessment says. To reduce the risk of injury/ impact from flying pieces of wood caused by lathe:

In the workshop lathes are set up with adequate space and in a direction to minimise the risk of any work coming loose from the lathe will not hit other users or members of the public. In addition, when spindle turning, place a 15mm dowel at the back of the poppits to arrest the drive string launching the work and therefore reduce the risk.

2022 Annual Report

This is what we did…

About London Green Wood
London Green Wood (LGW) is a cooperatively-run workshop. We teach green woodwork using traditional techniques, hand tools and locally grown wood straight from the log. We have been creating opportunities to learn heritage and ‘rural’ crafts in Hackney since 2011. We are currently based at Hackney City Farm.

By creating a space for people to work creatively alongside others, we foster friendships and community connections. By teaching people new skills, we create resilience. By working outdoors in nature, we provide a space for reflection and therapeutic activity.

Our aims:

  • Create a welcoming and accessible green wood workshop for a diverse community of woodworkers.
  • Promote green woodwork.
  • Provide opportunities for people living in the city to learn traditional rural crafts.
  • Create opportunities for people to learn new skills and earn money from their skills.

Our members

At the end of 2022 we had 53 members (8% growth on 2021). Currently, 28% of our membership pay unwaged or low income rates, 34% of these are female.

This year there was a focus on developing skills within our membership, on building the community at the workshop and ensuring that when members join the coop they feel confident to come back and use the space. All this activity was led and organised by members on a voluntary basis.

  • Spoon Club. Spearheaded by Sam and Mat, we opened on Thursday evenings over the summer for a coop members Spoon Club. This was an amazing additional offering for our members. Spoon Club was incredibly successful in getting new members and female members in particular back to use the workshop regularly.
  • Skill shares. Thanks to Spencers’ organisation, we had 6 coop skill shares. Apart from a demonstration by Monocoat oil, these were all led by members for members.  These sessions have not only increased the skills of our members, they have been a tool to get members who hardly ever use the workshop back into the space.

May – Dan:  wooden knife sheaths (11 members joined)
June – Spencer: Fan birds (10 members joined)
July – Jo: clothes peg from a hazel branch (5 members joined)
August – Rubio Monocoat: paints & oils (6 members joined)
October – Mat: Colour & decoration (5 members joined)
November – Jo: Leatherwork (4 members joined)

  • Museum of the Home. Sharon also arranged a visit to the Museum of the Home library and archive, for members to see their collection of chairs and tools. Following this visit the Museum have enquired about LGW getting involved in their School programme.
  • Coop work days and socials. There have been numerous informal volunteer days in the workshop where coop members have built and fixed equipment and made other improvements to the workshop. Our biggest one was in November with 12 coop members coming in for a big clear up day, followed by a feast and a fire (and even more people joining in the evening). We also had evening celebrations and BBQs in June and August to get out membership together. At the August event we said goodbye to Ken, who had been Deputy Manager at the Farm for many years and was instrumental in getting us into this space.

Other projects

  • Asylum Seeker support group

We continued our partnership with the Red Cross to offer regular sessions to the Men’s Support group from the Hackney Centre. We have worked with them since 2019. Discussions about doing the same with the Womens’ group at ongoing. As well as monthly sessions, Sharon helped the group host an event the Hackney Centre for Refugee Week, the group were able to show what they had learnt to staff and other users at the centre. Our participation at this event was funded by LGW.

Participants in this group are offered a free space on our Induction to the Workshop course and invited to join the coop at zero cost.

  • Hackney Ark

Hackney Ark is an NHS service for children and young people with disabilities and additional needs. They asked us if we could run some sessions with their young people, but they didn’t have any budget for it and most of the young people they work with are from low income families. Luckily the very same week Rubio Monocoat Oil got in touch asking if they could send us some samples of their products and support our work in anyway. So we asked them to fund some sessions for Hackney Ark, and they said yes!

We ran regular school holiday sessions with the young people and their support workers. 15 young people took part. The feedback was amazing, some of them have already asked about joining the coop when they turn 18. We would love to do more of this, but need to find more funding or sponsorship for it.

  • Shoreditch Design Triangle

We participated in Shoreditch Design Triangle (part of London Design Festival) for the first time. Our workshop was on the SDT map. Members demonstrated turning and carving outside the SCP shop in Shoreditch, at Spitalfields Market and at our own workshop.

  • Events

These have not returned to their pre-covid levels, and so far we haven’t had any paid invitations to events. But we did attend Rich Mix Goes Green and Nunhead Cemetery Open Day, where members demonstrated and sold their work.

  • Kids birthday parties

This was a new thing for us, we did two. This could be developed as a bookable option on our website.

  • Corporate groups

Not entirely a new thing, as we have done a couple of small ones before, but this grew in 2022. We hosted 3 company away days at the workshop, visited 1 in their offices in Shoreditch and through a new partnership with an events company went on 2 trips to a golf club in Watford. Our corporate days were evenly split between big tech and east London creatives and designers. Corporate group sessions don’t particularly contribute to our aims, but they do bring in income for LGW and provide group teaching opportunities, which is useful for developing more members as tutors.

  • The Shop

Graham built us an amazing shop inside the container to go alongside our online shop. So far 5 members are selling their work through the shop, and spoons are flying off the shelves.

Supporting other woodworkers and community projects

  1. Ben, member of LGW and former tutor, has incorporated Bristol Tree Craft CIC with support from LGW.
  2. We hired a lathe to Sussex based bowl turner Amy Leake for a demonstration at the Guildhall Yard, an event for the Worshipful Company of Turner.
  3. We lent the workshop and lathes to Tim Stevenson from Nunhead Cemetery and Helen Welch of London School of Furniture Making for two days on their Understaning Wood course, https://furnitureschool.co.uk/.
  4. We are donating our waste wood to Hackney based, Community Sauna CIC.

Campaigns and fundraisers we’ve supported

  1. Fundraiser for Rape Crisis (2 members participated)
  2. Makers auction for Ukraine DEC appeal (5 members participated)

Other exciting things members did

  1. Sam was a Toast New Maker, with work on display at their Carnaby Street shop, demonstrations in their shops and vessels available to buy on through their webshop. He has also featured in lots of flashy magazines.
  2. Spencer continues to make buttons and handles for Bethany Williams, which were exhibited in the Design Museum. He also modelled in their advertising campaign, shot at the LGW workshop!

Courses
818 people joined 128 courses in 2022. Added to our other activity above, we taught green woodwork to around 900 people.

People attending our courses at 46% female, 13% from ethnic minorities, 7% low income rates. 14% had been on a LGW course before. 95% of course reviews were 5*!

See the full courses report.

Things we are doing well with our courses

  • People feel part of this community of makers.
  • People know what they can do next (tools to buy, other courses and joining the coop).
  • People have a lovely day, even if it’s difficult or frustrating at times, they leave feeling satisfied. This is especially important in our work rehabilitating office workers, they join our courses on their day off they need to feel looked after and inspired.
  • We have a pool of 8 regular tutors and a couple of extras who do occasional sessions, so mainly we are able to cover for each other when it’s needed.

Accounts

Here’s our financial report. This is a draft, we are working with our accountant on the final accounts.

Woodworking with Hackney Ark

Thanks to Rubio Monocoat Oil for funding these sessions

Hackney Ark is an NHS service for children and young people with disabilities and additional needs. They asked us if we could run some sessions with their young people, but they didn’t have any money for it and most of the young people they work with are from low income families. Luckily the very same week Rubio Monocoat Oil got in touch asking if they could send us some samples of their products and support our work in anyway. So we asked them to fund some sessions for Hackney Ark, and they said yes!

We ran regular school holiday sessions with the young people and their support workers. 15 young people took part. We’re hoping to get more funding to see them again next year, some of them have already asked about joining the coop when they turn 18.

I just wanted to get in touch to give some feedback on the session your fantastic co-op members ran for us over the Easter holidays. As my colleagues have no doubt highlighted in initially contacting you, our team works with some of the most isolated young people in the borough who often struggle to access education and leisure settings. The young people who access our services are largely on the autistic spectrum, many of whom experience high levels of anxiety, especially in accessing new activities.
Your team couldn’t have been lovelier, they were so patient in their teaching, kind and engaging. The three young people who made it along had a fantastic time and were discussing afterward how they could pursue this new interest. I cannot overemphasise what an achievement this is – one of the young people is currently unable to attend college or any other group work due to his anxiety, and the environment and staff were so welcoming that he felt entirely relaxed and enthusiastic. It was a joy to see. For our part as staff, we discussed how it didn’t feel like work at all- we are in love with greenwood carving!
We can’t thank Sharon and the team who hosted us enough, it really was a fantastic opportunity and we would love to find a way to do more with London Greenwood in the future. What a wonderful community of craftspeople.

Chrissy Baxter, Targeted Health Outreach Worker

Thanks again for putting on another brilliant session, the young people who attended really seem to enjoy the experience. We hope we can do our sessions with you in the future as this is a very good activity.

Shamsun Ali, Targeted Health Outreach Worker


London Design Festival 2022

Shoreditch Design Triangle

We’ve been tidying up the workshop, because this year we are part of Shoreditch Design Triangle.

The Shoreditch Design Triangle is a cultural event that celebrates the creative industry in East London. Running 17th-25th September 2022.

Now in its fourteenth year, the Shoreditch Design Triangle has become one of the largest districts in the London Design Festival, with a reputation for embracing new ideas and fostering community spirit through collaboration.

We will be demonstrating pole-lathe turning and green wood carving at:

We also have some workshops on during the event:

Other highlights include: SCP present One Tree, a project which repurposes a dying ash tree, Toast’s darning pop-up, the Good Design Awards, discussions on design, craft and climate change, and a broom.


Support for Ukraine

Fundraising auction for the Red Cross DEC Ukraine Appeal

Along with other makers from around the world, London Green Wood are taking part in an online fundraising auction for the people of Ukraine.

All proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross DEC Ukraine Appeal. Please get involved; tell your friends, neighbours and family and help us help! London Green Wood members are donating their work for this auction and will pay UK postage.

The auction will take place on Instagram and we will also accept bids by email from those who do not use Instagram. The auction closes at 5pm on Tuesday 5th April.

For auction:

  • Kolrosed eating spoon in sycamore with lucky symbols by London Green Wood member Graham O’Brien (@Lucky Spoons). This 18cm spoon is kolrosed using cinnamon and finished with food safe linseed oil. £20 minimum bid.
  • Mini pickle ladle in mulberry by Jo Clarke (London Green Wood mug not included). Finished with hemp seed oil. £25 minimum bid.
  • Bowl and spoon set by Mike Taylor. Cherry handled bowl, and elder spoon, both approx. 18cm long, finished with food safe linseed oil. £30 minimum bid.
  • Dove fan bird in willow by Spencer Martin. £25 minimum bid.

Here’s how it works:
1. Place your bid in GBP (£) in the comments below the Instagram post. If you are outbid, you’re welcome to bid again (in fact, we encourage you to do that as we want to raise as much money as possible!). If you are unable to use Instagram, please email us with your bid making clear which item you are bidding on.
2. When this auction closes (pm UK time on Tuesday 5th April), the winner will be contacted to organise the donation.
3. The auction will be marked as closed and delivery will be organised. Each maker donating their work has offered to cover UK postage.
PLEASE NOTE: If we are unable to contact the winner within 24 hours of the auction closing, we may need to re-list it, or the winner will be the second-highest bidder. If your account is private, please send a DM or email to us if you win

Thanks to Russ West for organising and supporting the auction.

London Green Wood has been working with the Red Cross since 2019, delivering green woodworking sessions for asylum seekers. Membership of our cooperative is free for asylum seekers.