a day in the life at Smithworks

It’s easy to look back at pictures like this and think, “Oh, what a fun day at the shop!” But I can say it was in fact a hot, dirty shop day. We are so used to it though, we just kind of lean in, and get through all the sparks and the sweat.

The team was abuzz with detail work on a large-scale awning project Malik was running that was done in collaboration with RLS Construction and created from beautiful drawings from Stan Dixon’s Architecture office.

There was the usual mix bag of repairs and parts for clients, as well as process refinements of one of the many custom range hoods that come through.

But it was a particularly cool day for me as I was installing a kinetic piece I had made more than 15 years earlier. I made it while I was working in another shop, still in my 20s, and only daydreaming of working for myself and having a practice of my own. I first set it up in my backyard at home, but after children and renovations that gave our growing family the space to spread out into, it was taken down and laid on the ground where it collected rust and dust for many years. Setting it up at the new shop, which would have seemed like a pipe dream even for me at the time of its making, was a way for me to connect with that younger, daydreaming version of myself. And seeing it there now reminds me to just keep moving.