I always enjoy going to other artists’ work areas – and there is no way to generalise about them. Some are orderly, clean, dust free with everything in its place, others are totally chaotic, some generously sized, possibly purpose-built work areas, others nothing much more than a hole in the wall, scavenged space within a family home – either convenient or apparently hopelessly inconvenient by my standards; and yet, from every kind of environment come people who produce wonderfully creative, innovative works in a variety of media.

Recently I have seen references to classes quilters can enrol in for help with design or renovation of workspace or studio. These courses are aimed specifically at quiltmakers, but I recently read of a US magazine publisher who is launching a new publication on the topic of studios, presumably not solely aimed at quilters but other artists in all media. What strikes me as very sad is that in affluent societies people will pay good money to ?learn? how to do what they could do themselves with a bit of thought and planning, where they want what in their work area, storage of raw materials, new or second hand furniture needed, lighting, power outlets etc.

There is no ‘correct’ or ‘perfect’ approach to a workspace – it is up to the individual to do a bit of thinking around the subject from their own point of view. If someone can’t think and organise their way through their own work space, can they be relied on to produce original, well designed creative work? I think there is a very strong link here.