22 . 10 . 19
Often, when we run our workshop weeks, we hear feedback from customers about how time flies past through the week and Friday seems to be here before we know it, yet how simultaneously, they have had time to slow down and calm their minds. A brilliant gift from the act of making.
Jonas came to join us in late September and ended up having a lesson in slowing down before he had even arrived. He traveled to join us from Schaffhausen in Switzerland, which would normally involve a short journey to Zurich, a flight to London and then onwards travel to Cornwall. However, the travel gods had another plan for him.
Through aeroplane technological issues and weather systems crashing around Europe in a wild end to the first month of autumn, delays meant that his journey ended up taking a total of 28 hours from door-to-door, five times what he was expecting. Fortunately, he had planned to arrive in Cornwall on the Saturday before our workshop, because thanks to the delays, he actually arrived late Sunday afternoon and was still ready and raring to go at 9 am on Monday.
Jonas’ route to joining us was led by his desire to take some time off and put some energy back into himself. To slow down. He’d recently been through several big life changes that ignited a desire to reconnect with himself, so he took this year as an opportunity to step back and gain perspective, to discover and experience new things, and reawaken his own passions. He happened to notice Das Surfbrett (The Surfboard – by Dan Kieran) sitting on a shelf in a local book store and was drawn towards it and after feverishly reading through the pages the same evening, he was hooked. It seemed as though a workshop with us would give him a chance to do all of these things at the same time, so he got in touch with us to book a space on a workshop week and it seemed September couldn’t get here quickly enough.
Through the five days spent with us, Jonas was able to experience a whole new world of woodwork. Working with his hands, getting comfortable in the workshop and trusting the processes and tools we use in making a surfboard. He was able to find some needed headspace, because the act of making is so absorbing that it creates a refreshing and calming state of mind. And through excited conversations with us all in the workshop and multiple visits to the beach throughout the week, he was able to reconnect with his love of surfing and the ocean.
Whilst sharing lunch on Friday, we reflected on the week together and it seemed we were able to deliver the perfect tonic for him. It just so happens that this is just the kind of slowing down that we enjoy too!
If you’d like to make your own surfboard and memories that last a lifetime, head over to our workshop page and book yourself onto a course with us next year.
We walked along the beach at low tide to find some fun waves!
Robby and Alfie recently spent the week with us making wooden surfboards, here they are to tell you all about it...
