Studio or shop?

When I first began making furniture, I called my workspace a shop. I grew up in a shop. I always thought of a place that contained tools and in which work was done as a shop. Studios were what photographers and painters had.

Later on when I was really thinking about my image, I wanted to differentiate myself from cabinetmakers. I was a furniture maker and it seemed appropriate that I work in a studio. I even called my business Studios DeCristoforo. That turned out to be not the best choice because everyone thought Studios was my first name.

In the late 80's I got into making high end cabinets and, somehow, I ended up back in a shop again. There was no question about this. It really was a shop and not a studio. It didn't have a showroom or even an office. I dropped the studios thing altogether, thinking that some day I would get back into more artistic woodworking. That someday took a long time to arrive. And it took a form that has come as something of a surprise as I get more involved with artistic turned objects and farther away from the heavy lifting of cabinetmaking.

Right now I have both a shop and a studio. The shop is where it has been for many years but right now, with the economy in the doldrums, it's a bit quieter than it normally is. My studio is in my backyard where I can go to indulge myself in the creation of relatively useless but beautiful (or so I am told) objects that could only be produced in a studio. But I don't think I'll call myself Studios again...

D.D.