Sunday evening in the middle of Spring I went to visit a rather odd workshop where I had been invited many times, but never managed to come. It was located in East Dulwich, South London. The area where travelers taking packaged tours wouldn’t have a chance to see. This workshop was called Hendzel &Hunt , the owners couldn’t be anyone else, but Hendzel &Hunt.

Its Atmosphere was surprisingly different from most workshops I’d been to. The enormous, old metal door creaked in a rhythm that harmonised with the Indy Rock music that was banging all around the room. The two owners did not sit too far from one another, one was sawing the wood, the other was abrading a six-feet-high sculpture with a sand paper.

“If you really want something, it’s gonna happen.” said, 28-years-old Jan Hendzel.

When asked about a drive in saving money to establish a company, he spoke naturally while thoroughly scrubbing a work, “It might take time but if you really want it, it will happen.”

Sometimes Jan would take a pause to brush back his curly hair, getting the sawdust off. Jan Hendzel was a product designer and engineer. And Hunt, the English guy I usually called with his first name, Oscar, was a lamp and furniture designer, graduated from the same academy. They contributed to set up a design company whose work also covered model making and all kinds of sculpting. The works seen in the workshop mostly focused on their utility and on helping the customers solving their specific problems. At the Corner of the workshop was a table full of unfinished models, some pieces belonged to their friends.

Now the building had become a somewhat club for the owners and their friends, many of whom made a living in the field of art such as product designers, textile designers and musicians. There were also some engineers, but no writers so far. It was there place to work, eat, listen to the music and do other activities as they pleased (I need to say that there was nothing illegal). The owners would welcome anyone even a stranger as long as they called in before showing up.

As soon as the sun set, the guys called up their friends to fix some barbecue for the evening meal. Then they managed without using any decent ember or any equipment regularly needed for a barbecue. As you may see in the picture;

One of the guys brought out a tank and pieces of wood to set the fire before putting a grill on. A French girl and I went to the groceries. Some of the guys went to get the beers and some stayed cutting the log. There were eight of us at the meal. Someone dragged an old radio out and turned on some Reggae music which went pretty well with the evening. The food we made roughly turned out unbelievably delicious. Possibly due to the big log which took time to reach the right temperature and thus we were too hungry that our taste bud wasn’t working properly. Possibly the taste was meant to be good unintentionally or possibly it was the huge beer cans which I hardly drank except when hanging out with the local English friends, that had made the food delicious. For whatever reason, this rough texture, but yet mild taste of the meal was neat, with all its combination.

My new Portuguese friend was sitting nearby, eating a sausage, moving his foot lightly by the rhythm of the song.  My French girlfriend was slicing the baguette in the kitchen. An English girlfriend brought some marshmallow to grill and ate it hot. Jan and Oscar walked in and out letting the guests enjoy themselves.

For more..
www.hendzelandhunt.com

“If you really want something, it’s gonna happen.”