How it all started...Sheds in a shed.

www.microlodge.net

I had a conversation today, running along the lines of sheds and how we got started at Microlodge, so here's a brief summery of our history.

I had just returned from a year in Sri Lanka where I ended up, a week after the Tsunami, doing relief work in a village (or what was left of it), called Tellwatta, and came home to Scotland as the thought of  returning to live in Spain had lost it's appeal.

By chance, I met up with Gary, who was to become my business partner, when we got talking about picnic tables for his pub of all things.  I reckoned we could come up with some really quirky designs.

So, we built round ones...

Octagonal ones...

ermmm..these ones

and ones that looked like benches...but...

with a pull and a twist...

turned into this.

Soon, other things started to appear in the form of wishing wells and planters etc

A lot our our work consisted of pieces for caravan sites, so when one of them mentioned they were thinking of investing in camping pods, we took it upon ourselves to try to design something quirky, fun to build, yet practical. Therefore, 2 things needed to be done.  First, build a prototype and secondly, how do you build a shed in a shed so to speak.

The first part was done after weeks of sleepless nights doing designs 'in the head' and then model building began.

First a skeleton..

Then the outer skin..

Bunks...

...and a camera case rucksack.

Then the second part to turn this small shed into..

this...

and finally..

...cue drum roll.....Now that's what I call a shed!!!

So, we started on the first full sized prototype, but as we neared build completion, we sussed there was a slight problem...we couldn't get the Hobbit out of the doors, so a bit of demolition was required.

original..with straight sides (note lack of roof space above)

Since those days, we have of course had to move to a larger, and proper workshop, but we still retain the same hands on principals with only 2 of us doing the build start to finish and accompany every unit on delivery. We have also stuck to our guns and only produce a Hobbit every 3 weeks or so rather than trying to just 'churn them out'.

Now, it's more like this,

We still only clear the workshop doors by 2" though