Summer Is for Writing

This will be the last missive from The Desk of Alf Rehn for a while, as I am now going on what some people refer to as "a holiday", but which in my world is often better spoken off as "blessed time to write the things I want to, rather than the ones I need to". So yes, I am taking time off of basically everything except my nearest and dearest, and my proper writing. If you follow these missives, you'll know that one of the things I'll be writing on is my book on crime (and punishment (Hej Mikke!) and management and economy and a plethora of other things). The other thing is something that I'm keeping close to my chest at the moment, but as a little treat before I leave you until some time in August, here's a snippet from it. It describes something central of the project, but far from all about it. Anyway, here's hoping you have an amazing summer. Stay classy out there!

The Atelier

You can do creative work anywhere. You can be creative during your commute, in jail, or while mopping a floor. You can be creative on the sidewalk or on a mountaintop. If need be, you can do creative work in a closet, using only paper and pencil. If you don’t have a pencil, you can use a piece of coal. There’s always a way. That said, many people find that they do far better creative work in a space that is conducive to the same. They seek a space where they can fashion the environment so it sparks their imagination. Further, many enjoy somewhere calm, where they can gather the tools and materials of their creativity in a single, singular place.

For an artist, such a space can be the atelier, after the old French “astelier”. This referred to a woodworking shop, and can be traced all the way back to the Latin word for a thin stick of wood. So the atelier is a place where little pieces are piled and come together, where various things are fashioned together into something greater. Now, not all ateliers are ateliers. Some are studios, others are sheds, others are writer’s rooms. My own is mobile. It consists of a sling bag that contains all that I need to do my creative work in a café or a wine bar. Or the garden of a hotel, where I am now.

The important part is to have a place where you feel safe and ready, and where you have your tools at hand. Offices are therefore not good ateliers. People often don’t find them safe for creative work, nor that offices are conducive for switching into their creative selves. Cafés can be excellent ateliers, if you have a nomadic nature and can filter out disturbances. Investing in a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones can do wonders for your creative potential. If you can get hold of a true atelier, studio, writer’s cottage, or workshop, even better. Heck, a shed beats an office any day of the week, and there is lot to be said for a quiet dive bar.

There are two aspects to the atelier/workshop. One is the physical and spatial, the other is the symbolic and iconic. When it comes to the first one of these, the power comes from having a room of one’s own. There is something nigh magical about a space where all the natural shocks of the outside world are kept at bay. The most important aspect of the atelier is here the door, and the manner in which it can be locked. Families of creatives have long known that when the door to creative space is closed, one is not to breach it unless in an emergency. The door creates a barrier, one that powers creative work. This principle of exclusion and closing off is important, for it defines the space of creativity. Like an ironsmith has his hearth, a writer has his room. There is something transformational in isolation, in locking out the world and being in a space with all you need to create.

There is also a secondary level to the atelier. The way in which it can protect the creative worker is of course of paramount importance. That said, we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the atelier-workshop as a container for the tools and materials of creativity. As previously stated, our tools are extensions of our creative selves, and should be shown requisite care and respect. For some types of creative work, there are also far greater needs. If you work with textiles you’ll not only need a place for your materials, you might also need a table for cutting and a place to put your sewing machine. If you work in wood or metal, you’ll need a workbench and a way to store your tools. Even those of us for whom the tools required are a tablet and a notepad can think about storage. Many have perfected the art of EDC (Every-Day Carry) to ensure that their mobile creative workshop is always ready to go to the next café or co-working space. I try not to think about just how much I’ve spent to have the exact right set of tools. Nor the bunch of things I carry around as creativity talismans, packed away in a too expensive bag. Still, now I have my everywhere atelier rearing and ready to go...

This brings us to the other aspect of the atelier, the symbolic one. One might not have a workshop, or a studio, or an atelier. Still, creative work requires a space that at least feels like it is free, unique, apposite. When creative workers go to a café, it doesn’t mean that they think it is theirs. What they are looking for is a feeling of belonging to a space and having a connection to the same. This is a link that can be mined for creative inputs. I have a few select ones, where I’ve picked out my favorite places to sit and where the staff knows what I’m having. This ritual of space – coming into the café, having the owner look at me and go “Cortado…” with a nod, me sitting down in the quiet corner – primes me for creative work. So the atelier is more than a physical space, it is a mental one. It is the comfort you get from knowing that once you have your little EDC bag and are at your café, you are in your little bubble of creativity. If it is an actual atelier, or workshop, or even a little shed around the back, so much the better.

We are our tools, but we are also our places. So, want to become more creative? Make a place for it. It might be a cheap little table in your bedroom, or a bag you keep stocked with notebooks and those pens you enjoy. Still, make it. Go to it. Revel in it. Over time, you can grow it. A bigger table, a more extensive EDC, or a table at a co-working place. Step by step, you are creating the space for wonders and miracles.