In a joint collaboration, The Hive and designer-maker Chris Eckersley will transform The Hive’s Gallery into a bustling wood-working workshop for five days.
Members of The Hive’s diverse community group are invited to learn new skills using an experimental approach derived from the ancient art of ‘bodging’ (aka greenwood work). Following a collaborative and fun approach, all participants will get to try their hand at improvised making, resulting in a new set of chairs and a refectory table for the Hive’s popular Café and Bakery.
The Bodging Project is a collaborative group of designer-makers who originally came together in 2010 when Chris Eckersley organised what was then thought to be a one-off event called Bodging Milano. The idea was simple: all designers want to make the perfect chair, let's go back to basics, get away from computers and drawing boards, and learn the ancient art of 'bodging' - aka greenwood chair-making. And then let's put what we've made straight on a van and take it all to the Milan Furniture Fair!
Unexpectedly the project then developed a life of its own with requests for the 'bodgers' to present ad hoc making events at such diverse locations as the V&A Museum, Messums Wiltshire, the Harley Gallery, Lloyd Loom Furniture, Glastonbury Festival, and many others. What started as green-woodworking developed into 'bodge thinking' as the team deliberately reduced the gap between design and craft, and encouraged the general public to get involved.