Open Workshop // Join a Tour of Thor’s Hammer for 2023 Craft + Design Canberra Open Studios
We’re excited to announce we’ll be hosting an Open Workshop as part of the 2023 Craft + Design Canberra Open Studios, running a series of workshop tours that’ll bring you behind the scenes of Hammer HQ.
In the tour, you’ll learn about the skill and care it takes to safely salvage and recycle our timber, as well as the history behind it. You’ll meet members of our team from different sections of the business, from recycling, dressing & joinery, and the design and office staff.
You’ll have the opportunity to check out the workshop, showroom and upstairs gallery, and there will also be time for questions. This is a really great opportunity to get to know us a little better—we love welcoming people to our space and sharing what we do. You could also bring along any teenagers in your life (N.B. anyone under 16 must be supervised) to get them fired up about a career in sustainability, design, timber recycling, furniture-making or joinery.
Workshop Tours
We’ll be taking visitors on a timber recycling journey, from the raw demolition timber to the fine furniture produced by our craftspeople.
There will be three sessions available, at 11:30am, 12pm and 12:30pm. all going for about 60 minutes. It’s free, but tickets must be reserved because spaces are limited.
First up, we’ll take you down the back to the timber yard to show you where the timber arrives from the demolitions, and then to our recycling section for a demonstration of nail removal, species identification and grading techniques, and if there’s time you might even get a go at de-nailing yourself!
After that, we’ll take you inside to see the big machines in our dressing workshop and our recycled sawdust fire briquette production.
Next, you’ll have a chance to learn about making furniture with the joinery team, looking at things like machining, profiling, gluing, sanding, filling and finishing. You’ll get to see our 5-axis CNC machine in action.
Finally, you’ll head upstairs to the Mixing Room Gallery and Showroom, to check out the design details of the furniture on show, and talk through some of the design thinking behind our work.
This is also the last day to enjoy our current exhibition up in the Mixing Room Gallery: Aggregate: Perspectives in Recycled Glass—make sure to take a moment to look around while you’re there.
BOOK YOUR SPOT
Numbers are very limited so you must book your spot prior to the tour. There are three time slots available; find the links to book below:
Book 11:30 session here
Book 12pm session here
Book 12:30pm session here
While you’re in the area, why not visit some of our neighbours?
M16 Artspace — 21 Blaxland Cres, Griffith Act
Photoaccess — 30 Manuka Circuit, Griffith Act Canberra
Contemporary Art Space — 44 Queen Elizabeth Terrace, Parkes Act (11am - 4pm)
Canberra Glassworks — 11 Wentworth Ave, Kingston Act
Check out the full 2023 Craft + Design Canberra Open Studios schedule here.
Please note
You must reserve your space for the tour. If you miss out, we’ll be running another tour in 2024. Make sure to join our email list so you don’t miss out.
Kids/teenagers under 16 should be supervised by an adult.
There is a fair bit of walking and standing on the tour, but you are welcome to bring your own fold up chair. The last part of the tour is up two flights of stairs, so it is not suitable for those with mobility issues—we're very sorry to those who that will affect.
Photos by Rohan Thomson.