Oak Arts

Oak Arts is tucked away at Ignou 6, which is a spot that stays relatively quiet most of the week. Our shop is filled with all sorts of things, from large wooden frames leaning against the walls to stacks of paper that we haven't found a permanent home for yet. There is always a faint smell of linseed oil or maybe some kind of glue hanging in the air, which you get used to after five minutes. The workbench in the middle of the room is scarred with knife marks and splashes of dried paint from projects we finished months ago. We don't really have a fancy display window; it’s mostly just the stuff we are currently working on visible from the door. Sometimes people from the university wander in looking for something specific, and we have to dig through the back shelves to find it. The floor is concrete and stays cold even when it’s warm outside, so we usually wear thick shoes while we work. It’s a bit of a mess sometimes, especially when we have three or four different things going on at once. We don't spend much time decorating the place because we are too busy actually using the space for work. It’s a practical setup for people who like to make things with their hands, and we prefer it that way. We just show up, do the work, and close the metal shutter at the end of the day.