National Shed Week and Shed of the Year

The race is on to win the coveted Shed of the Year competition which will be held this summer as part of the first ever National Shed Week.

Organised by the internationally-famous readersheds.co.uk in collaboration with The Shed magazine, National Shed Week (which runs from July 2 until July 9) will be the first national celebration of one of the cornerstones of British culture.

"Every shed is unique," says Uncle Wilco (Head sheddie) from readersheds.co.uk. "The traditional shed found on allotments and in back gardens has been a second home to generations of men and women. But the 21st century shed comes in many shapes and sizes and serves many purposes. There are pub sheds, shacks, studios, and even Tardises not to mention increasing numbers of garden office sheds catering to the increasing demand for working from home. As a place for a little slice of freedom and a spot to indulge yourself, there's simply nothing that can touch it."

There's no doubt that sheds have a special place in our culture and that some of our finest minds have found solace and inspiration in a shed. Indeed:
* Almost half of 18 to 29 year-olds have bought a shed since the turn of the new century (source: Saga Insurance)
* Having a garden office can increase the value of your property by at least £25,000 (source: Enterprise Nation/Homefinder UK)
* Among the many sheds at this year's Chelsea Flower Show will be a special roof garden shed presented by the British Beekeepers' Association in their Urban Beekeping display (source: RHS)

Details of the various activities in National Shed Week will be announced in coming months - with a high quality shed from Taylors Garden Buildings among the top prizes - but star billing goes to the prestigious Shed of the Year competition.

So here's a call to all existing sheddies and any new ones that they should register their shed on www.shedoftheyear.co.uk by June 25 2007.

The public and fellow sheddies will then be able to vote in a range of shed categories (including Garden Office of the Year which is sponsored by The Shed magazine) and prizes will be awarded to the best sheds in the each category, The group winners and overall winner will be announced during National Shed Week.

News updates will be posted at www.shedweek.co.uk and at this blog.

Taxing homeworkers twice

Homeworkers in the UK should thank their lucky stars they're only taxed on their income once. Nicole Belson Goluboff writing in Legal News TV reports on the latest update on the dreaded 'telecommuter tax'. In a nutshell this means that a Connecticut resident who is an editor with a Manhattan publishing company and works mostly from home would find that under the “convenience of the employer” rule, New York may tax him, not only on the income he earns when he is physically in New York, but also on the income he earns when he works in Connecticut. Because Connecticut can tax him on the income he earns in Connecticut, he may be taxed twice on his Connecticut income. That doesn't strike me as a great incentive to work from home. Goluboff writes: "Under New York’s rule, a nonresident telecommuter may avoid New York tax liability on his out-of-state income if telecommuting is an employer necessity. But New York has almost never considered telework necessary. Until 2006, to prove necessity, a telecommuter had to show that his work, by its nature, was impossible to do in a New York office – say, photographing horses. Since most of the work employees can do from their out-of-state homes is work that can also be done in a New York office, the test was easy to fail."
There's obviously a fight to get this law amended which is outlined clearly in the article.

Take your children to the garden office day

Well, it's not quite that, but in the US of A it's Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. Except that of course not everybody goes very far to work nowadays. Among them is Lori Sokol writing in the Baltimore Sun who says the 'typical' experience of work is now atypical thanks to homeworking and that this needs to be reflected in this traditional day: "We should teach our children not only how teleworking can be done, but also why it must be done."

Arvesund - garden offices for hermits

The Swedish-based Arvesund has a lovely shed which they market as a Hermit's Cabin. Designed by Mats Theselius, it's aimed at one person use, measuring around eight square meters and covered inside and out with wood from old North Sweden barns. Those of you interested in Heidegger's Hut will be interested in some of the more philosophical writing on the site. “Most people probably associate the term Hermit’s Cabin with religion and monks” says Theselius. “But this cabin is rather a way of channelling the city dweller’s lack of seclusion and proximity to nature. I wanted to show people’s longing to escape from the intensity of urban life. The Hermit’s Cabin raises the issue of the individual versus society, and of mankind’s fundamental need for solitude. It’s about our origins and our relation to nature from the perspective of the urban society. Therefore the cabin is filled with most of the things a person need rather than the religious notion of the aesthetic or the most basic. Here you can light a fire, eat, sleep, read, doze or quite simply do nothing.” The cabin comes fully equipped with bed, chair, table, wardrobe, cooker, coathangers and curtain rods. Arvesund are also very keen on reusing old Swedish timber in furniture production (there's a special Hermit's Cabin birdbox which I rather like too).

Thanks to Jonathan Satchell from Hut for alerting me to Arvesund.

Shed to go

As mentioned in the New York Times this week, furniture specialists Design Within Reach and Airstream are working together on a trailer for mobile workers (“rock climbers, surfers, dot-com guys,” according to project head architect Christopher Deam). The idea is you'll be able to work anywhere with your mobile and wi-fi connection, quickly scramble an egg in the jazzy interior (upholstered in Paul Smith fabrics) then hit the road when the spirit moves you. If RVs are your thing, the always excellent MoCo Loco has a good roundup of some of the most interesting (including a couple suitable for homeworking on the go) here.

Friday Eye Candy - Bathing Beauties: more photos

There was a very positive response to the post about the Bathing Beauties exhibition and the organisers have kindly sent me some more images for you to linger over. These are:
* Oyster Pleasance’ by Sally Spencer-Davies - A Models Limited. Image by Michael Trainor
* Cheese 42’ by Christian Uhl, Atchitekt. Image by Joel Chester Fildes
* The Wizard of Oz’ by Lionel T Dean, Future Factories. Image by Joel Chester Fildes and Michael Trainor
* Alien Drum Sensorium’ by Alasdair Tooze image by Joel Chester Fildes
* Jabba’ by I am associates. Image by Michael Trainor.

Garden studio for three

Not all garden offices are inhabited by a solitary shedworker. Here's a nice example of a garden studio for an established local business in Lacock, Wiltshire, which is a small self-contained structure discreetly built in mature landscaped gardens providing office space for three employees. Designed by ASA Architecture who also have planning permission for an interesting garden studio in Holland Park, London, in a grade II listed building. The office will be built of glass, timber and steel.