Shed Box of Delights: Studio Unwired at Tatton Park Flower Show

RHS Young Designer of the Year nominee Ula Bujauskaite has come up with a lovely garden office design - ‘Studio Unwired’ - for July's RHS Flower Show in Tatton Park. She describes her garden as "a contemporary outdoor hot-desk office for an urban setting" which features a pergola divided into various open, semi-sheltered and enclosed workspaces with desks and seating so people can enjoy the delights of shedworking. There are also decked areas, gnarled pine trees, a pond, and - my favourite feature - dunes planted with flowers and grasses inspired by the coastal hinterlands of the designer's Baltic upbringing.

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Brexit and the shed industry

It's not a vast survey, but every little helps. To find out what the effects of Brexit might be for the garden buildings market, WhatShed.co.uk spoke to Mercia Garden Products and Shire Garden Buildings to ask for their views. According to WhatShed, both manufacturers supply a significant percentage of the total volume of garden buildings sold in the UK both online and via ‘Blue Chip’ high street retailers.
 
Here are their findings:

    •    Currency swings following decision to leave EU (21% drop in value) have seen large increases in imported raw materials. Imported timber/materials typically make up 66% of the final costs the consumer pays.
    •    Currency fluctuations have caused a typical 14% cost increase to manufactures.
    •    To date the manufacturers have absorbed the costs, due to many ‘Blue Chip’ retailers who had fixed price agreements in place. To date this has insulated consumers from any price rises.
    •    Price increases will now be passed on to consumers starting in April 2017. “As the dust has settled, and reality set in, this has now led to ‘Blue Chip’ customers accepting cost price increases, albeit very reluctantly,” said Terry Waldron, MD for Mercia Garden Products.
    •    Price rises consumers are likely to see in 2017 will range from an 8% to 10% increase.
    •    Manufacturers are actively working hard to reduce capital projects intended to reduce costs to combat the remaining effects of the increases. This means potential job freezes or cuts are likely.

"On a positive note, overall, sales of buildings have risen over the last two years and it appears that this is continuing for 2017," said a spokesman for WhatShed. "The focus is once again on staying at home and improving all aspects of it. More people are expected to have 'staycations' this year due to the weak pound, so they are more likely to make the most of their gardens and garden buildings. The continues a growing trend for bespoke buildings and this again still appears to be strong in 2017. This aids the UK manufacturers due to higher margins.
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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Garden office view (video)

🐝🐝Lady Horticulturist garden office view.Full of beauty ,wonder in soul & Mind #🐝🐝 pic.twitter.com/1ceQzEvKW3

— Lady Horticulturist (@ladyhort8) March 29, 2017

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Nook pod: Interior shedworking

The folder marked 'Interior shedworking' continues to expand. Here is the Nook pod in action, an "enclosure for working, meeting, eating [in] and relaxing". Single units are designed for one or two people but they can obviously be lined up or even turned into little sheds if you place them side by side (they are on castors so easy to wheel around). They come fully built or in flatpack form

It's already up and running at various locations including the Engine Shed in Bristol. Below is a video of a Nook pod in action using clever 360 degree surround video thingy technology so you can use your cursor to explore it all.


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WoHo homeworker app needs your vote

I've been happy to help friend of Shedworking and homeworking analyst Dr Frances Holliss (Emeritus Reader in Architecture, Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture & Design, London Metropolitan University) and her students in the initiall setting up of the WoHo home-based workers' app project. It's now a finalist (one of 12 out of 370 entrants) in a Big Idea competition and it really needs your vote now to take it to the next level. Here's what Frances says about it:

"Did you know that one in seven in the UK now works from home, and that this is on a massive upturn globally? These people are often super-connected digitally, but invisible in their neighbourhoods - and lonely. Jim’s a freelance accountant who works at his kitchen table all day; he struggles with his mental health as a result of this social isolation. And he’s not alone. There’s an estimated half a billion home-based workers worldwide and problems impacting on wellbeing are common.

"Until now. WoHo is a web-based platform that solves this by enabling home-based workers all over the world to connect with each other, in their community, by putting themselves onto a map of their neighbourhood. This makes it easy for people like Jim to meet each other, socially and professionally.

"It’s free - but makes money through relevant advertising and by charging for premium features. I have been investigating this field for 15 years; the rest of the team have the design and tech skills and experience to bring this Big Idea to life. With your vote, WoHo will build community, bust social isolation, and boost business, globally."

Please consider voting for it here.

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Shed Box of Delights: Coroflot Mobile Work Unit

Another entry in the interior shedworking file, although this also has the potential to be moved around and even used outside. The Coroflot Mobile Work Unit is a trailer designed by Los Osos for Coroflot ('Career and community site hosting individual creative portfolios, a global design firm directory, and a database of job and project openings'). It's made from douglas fir with a polycarbonate cladding.

The Making of: Coroflot – Office on Wheels from Los Osos on Vimeo.

Via Treehugger via designboom where there are lots more details and photos. --------------------------------------------------------

Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Cloud House shed

Cloud House by conceptual artist Matthew Mazzotta combines a shed with a clever rain harvesting system - rain is collected in a storage tank underneath the shed and is then pumped up to the cloud when anybody sits on one of the rocking chairs inside. It then falls as rain on the tin roof, making a nice sound and watering the edible plants on the windowsills. Here's what Matthew says:

"This display of the water cycle illustrates our dependence on the fragile natural systems that grow the food we eat: at points throughout the year when there is low rainfall, the ‘cloud’ will not rain on the roof because it is simply out of water."

CLOUD HOUSE Springfield, MO - Matthew Mazzotta from matthew mazzotta on Vimeo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.