Fishtown will soon be home to a new hands-on arts-and-crafts school known as
Workshop PHL.
Its founder, Delaware County native Kelly Malone, describes Workshop as a lo-fi, DIY interpretation of a maker facility. It will be a place where affordable classes are treated as laid-back social affairs, and where local creatives will teach everything from simple sewing and cocktail-making to photography and jewelry-making.
According to Malone, the mostly one-night courses offered at Workshop will include "all the popular ones," such as beer brewing and screenprinting. A number of more eclectic offerings are also in the works, including a three-and-a-half-hour "Sewing for Dudes" class and a two-hour course on building tiny glass jar terrariums.
The Workshop concept was actually born in Malone's former home of San Francisco, where she opened Workshop SF with fellow maker David Knight in late 2009. Last December, Malone returned to Philly to care for her parents.
"I needed a job and I didn't want to go get a normal one," she says. "So, I decided to open another location here."
A decidedly low level of commitment and a co-ed environment are both big parts of the Workshop ethos. According to Malone, throughout her childhood "everybody in my family made stuff, but no one really did it together. The men were in the garage or out in the shed, and the women were in the sewing room."
Workshop PHL is currently holding a two-week preview (through March 15) and will open officially on April 1.
"You can just go in and have a good time," explains Malone, "and see if you like it before you really dive in."
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Source: Kelly Malone, Workshop PHL