Featured Spaces – The Garage Journal

My shop was never designed to be pretty. It was built to work. Every decision leaned toward function, and if the aesthetics didn’t quite follow, so be it. I don’t regret that approach at all. But as I’ve gotten older, and the all-night thrash sessions have become fewer and farther between, I’ve started to appreciate spaces that put a little more emphasis on comfort and atmosphere. Not above function, but closer to it. Which brings me to Nick Grant and his vintage-inspired workshop in Scotland. There’s something about the way he’s blended a proper working shop with a space you …

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I’ve been following Laura Kampf for close to a decade now, and there’s just something about the way she works that hits home. The style, the aesthetic, the willingness to jump between disciplines without overthinking it, she’s the definition of a true maker of things. Over the last couple of years she’s moved from Germany and is now in the middle of setting up a new shop in LA. Somewhere in the chaos of that, she picked up a $1 camper and decided to turn it into a backyard ADU of sorts… It’s exactly the kind of project I daydream …

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Okay… so maybe it’s not bauhaus. Maybe it’s more akin to mid-century modern. Either way, it’s perfect. Add to that, a Porsche 964 and a BMW 2002… Well, what more could you ask for? This is one of those gallery threads I’ve been quietly following for years. One of the very few that makes me stop whatever pointless task I’m in the middle of, sit down at a proper computer, and actually click the notification the second it pops up. And that got me thinking—if it gets under my skin like that, it probably deserves a little more attention. Some …

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Another day, another deep dive into a shop space. This time it’s the bench and tools of a horologist who specializes in vintage timepieces. I should say up front, I dabble in this world myself. Or more accurately, I dabble in watch modding. I love taking vintage watch parts, mostly Rolex and Tudor, mixing original components from different eras with a few well-made reproductions (read:fake), and building what I think of as hot rod watches. But this is a whole different animal. This is a guy restoring watches with tools and techniques I can’t even pretend to understand. He’s clearly …

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I’ve said it a hundred times, but I never get tired of poking around shops run by people who do work I know nothing about. The specialized tools, the unfamiliar disciplines, the methods that look half–mad-science and half–old-world craft… it all feels a little mystical to me. This morning I somehow slipped headfirst into a cobbler rabbit hole. There’s a surprisingly deep pool of boot and shoe repair channels on YouTube, and I have no idea if this guy is the guy, but I love how he approaches his work. And as a Red Wing devotee, I can’t argue with the end …

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