Bewley's planters - Part 1 - Workshop

Bewleys is an Irish institution. A cafe, halfway up Grafton Street, and one of those places where people from all walks of life came together to have tea, coffee, and scones as they watched the world go by. Back in the day, it was one of the most popular coffee houses in Dublin with young and old, artists and writers. You would see old people nursing a cup of tea for hours after picking up some message in the surrounding shops or you might have seen James Joyce penning his latest literary gymnastics. Many a pretentious first date was had there, (my own included). The main area inside was open plan and you could see and interact with everyone. A true communal experience. But that could never last in the capitalist world of trying to make money. Now, you want people in and out as quickly as possible. Once your business is done at the till, drink up and feck off.

Third times a charm

Over my different fumblings of careers, I have worked there a few times. I exhibited my science fiction art there when I was just starting as an artist and won first prize in the under-21 competition. I painted the whole interior with the company Paintworks when I used to do paint effects and now I was back in the 2017 revamp where they invested over 21 million Euro to bring it into the new century. Gone would be the days when you would walk around with a tray looking for an empty spot beside someone who interested enough to talk to. Now it would be table service only with no trays, only iPads.

It was opened in 1927 by The Bewleys family who were the first to import tea from China and then the company of cafes and packaged tea and coffee was bought by sculptor Paddy Campbell who now runs it as a family business.

A new departure

My input would be small as I was just suggesting a few things to do with the planting design inside but, my main project, which is the subject of this post was to make planters for the outside of the building.

I found it funny that this job would come to me as with 21 million to spend I figured they would have gotten professional carpenters to make something. But I was happy with the challenge, I had just gotten my new workshop and this would be my first job in it.

Straight off the bat, there were issues. They did not want to spend much money so they refused my first proposal which I will say here and now was expensive because the materials would be expensive and my cut was discounted because I am a sculptor trying my hand at carpentry.

If you are building anything out of wood for outside in Ireland you have to think like a boat builder. It can be very wet here and getting the right materials is expensive. I didn't want to put in loads of making effort only to have it wash away in the next rain.

I wanted to use high-quality marine ply for the carcass and Irroko hardwood for the frame. Finally, I had to bring it down to just good quality ply which I waterproofed but I insisted on keeping the irroko. This is wood which is very good for park benches and stuff so I figured it would be weather-resistant enough. Please remember, I am learning as I go.

Finally, the number pleased them, or they just couldn't get anyone else to do the job. I took the final measurements and did my designs, making the final agreements on what they would be getting.

A makers paradise

It was so nice to have a place to work, My tools were laid out and I had room to think. I got the Iroko cut and planed to final dimensions at a cabinet maker as I didn't have that machinery myself. I just had to miter the edges with my very blunt saw blade.

All was going swimmingly till they contacted me and said the council asked that they be smaller so as not to take up too much footpath. I had already built the main forms and so had to cut them down to size. The above image is me trying to cut them down and keep the mitered edges.

The construction was simple enough with the main box made from Ply and then using the iroko to give it a chunky frame. I tried to hide all screws on the inside except for these holes at the bottom to give them extra strength.

These would be filed after. I mostly did pin nails and lots of polyurethane glue to hold everything together on the outside. This glue is weatherproof and expands to fill gaps.

Things were starting to come together and although Iroko is nice to work with it is hard and never wants to be straight. Luckily the glue hid a lot of my sins.

Using my planer I chamfered all the edges because this would protect from knocks and stop people from cutting themselves on the sharp edges.

That little groove in the planer's foot is there for chamfering, in case you didn't know.

Photo Finish

There were four planters in all. Two for the front of the building and two for the side. I love wood in its natural state but I knew it would need protection and to be colour matched to the other woodwork.

This was easier said than done. Nobody could give me the colour they used as it was all done in a factory. So I would have to make my best guess and I was running out of time. With all their fluting around I was against the clock and had to deliver the day before opening. This meant working through the night.

I sanded with many grits of paper and got the first coat of Varnish on in my workshop. But then had to let it dry for a while before the install. I would give the final coat onsite which was not ideal.

The install was also difficult as the street slopes down outside the cafe. I had thought of this and hoped that with a handsaw I could make it work. I had left little legs which I would cut to the correct angles. making everything level.

Miraculously, I got the first to sit nicely cutting all along the kickboard with my saw. I was then able to use this piece, which when flipped around became the extension on the other side. It was a perfect fit.

It was funny to be doing some on-the-fly carpentry on Grafton Street. I felt like I was a busker as I used my saw and hand plane. I had no power for electric tools. It was like a performance as I worked like the carpenters who had helped build this shop nearly 1 hundred years ago.

All came together well and I then spent the rest of the day giving them their final lick of varnish. It was Halloween night and at midnight I saw workers come and take down the Halloween decorations and start putting up the Christmas lights on Grafton Street. It was like they were waiting in the side alleys for the bell. It was quite surreal.

Wait, there's more

I had planned to install the other ones around the side but even though my measurements were perfect when I took them the builders had replastered the wall so my planters were too long and the owners had also changed his mind and wanted me to build a box to go under the planter to lift them up off the step, That would be another day's work and at this point maybe the topic of another post.

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