A Highgate carpentry workshop is home to an initative which aims to empower women with traditional carpentry skills.
Wood That Works is a community interest company which promotes the benefits people can find from working with wood and was set up by close friends Honey Halit, Camilla Maxwell-Comfort and Ricky Jefferson.
The trio come from vastly different backgrounds and the company is now thriving, offering a range of classes including both male and female-only workshops and Youth Reparation groups.
Halit, a former child and adolescent psychotherapist, said: “It’s a therapeutically informed space, not therapy as such, so it makes it very easy to talk about anything that comes to mind.
“It’s a space that recognises the needs of the individual and respects that.”
Wood That Works maintains sustainability at the core of what they do, using only upcycled wood in all of their creations and focussing on giving things new leases of life.
Halit said: “Wood is so forgiving, it allows you to turn back time in a way that you can’t with most things.
“For me, it taps into seeing the potential where some people overlook it.
“I think that is my favourite thing about working with wood.”
Halit was named this year’s winner of the Champion for Girls and Young Women Award as a result of her work with the company.
Her nomination said: “Honey is an inspiring colleague to work with and manages to get the best out of the young women who come to her.
“Not just giving them carpentry and wood skills but raising their self-confidence to take on other challenges that they do not either get validation for or do not think they can achieve.”
Whilst the women-only workshops are helping to combat stereotypes and allow women into a traditionally male dominated domain, Halit noted the importance of having men, such as co-owner Jefferson, in the space.
She said: “Skills like this are a dying sort of skill and even though traditionally this is a male domain, actually overall, less people are becoming skilled at things like carpentry.
“So, in order for women to become up-skilled, we’re still at a point in time where we need men like Ricky to make us laugh, be kind, share their spaces and teach us with kindness.”
For members of the women-only class, Wood That Works is an importance space for both mental wellbeing and companionship.
Lynda, who joined the group during the Covid-19 pandemic and following the death of her husband, said: “It was wonderful for me just to talk to other people and use wood, it was like a meditation.
“That was wonderful to help me heal, and I am still here.”
Claire, another women-only class participant, said: “[The workshop is] My happy place.”
“People see me how I am here.
“It’s a sanctuary, really.”
Along with serving as sanctuary for so many, Wood That Works aims to teach traditional vocational skills in a compassionate environment as well as transform stereotypes around young girls and women.
The initiative is made possible through donations from the public as well as funds raised from selling their products at seasonal fairs, local shops and their online shop.
For more information on how to donate and class information, visit Wood That Works’ website.
All photos: Ellie Gelber
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