Sometimes when I am creating designs or pieces of my paper crafts, they have got to be some of the best times I have ever spent. Because you are concentrating so much on every little detail and getting excited about how the finished piece will look that I realised in some small way, that is what is missing in this country and something that a lot of school leavers will never experience. The joy of making.
We used to be a giant of manufacturing, respected the world over and now we have been reduced to a nation of service industries. There is something special about taking something and turning it into a physical product that you can touch and feel. I count myself extremely fortunate because when I left school I went into engineering. One of my first jobs was working in a small backstreet engineering factory in Birmingham making parts for guns. It was highly skilled work and you attained a great sense of achievement making something perfect that would be used on an expensive product. Then I worked at several more small companies, learning from men close to retirement who would get out their mahogany tool chests full of amazing hand tools and measuring devices. Nothing comes close to getting on your overalls, first brew of the day in hand, firing up the machinery and wondering what you were going to create that day. The smell of the suds and the bright sparks that escaped off the metal at the first touch of a cutting tool just cannot be beat.
Another job I had was making spray booths for the car industry. You would get your drawings from the offices and then have to design how to make it yourself. Just the thrill of taking several sheets of flat metal and turning it into a 30ft spray booth over a couple of weeks was great. You had to make all the ducting by hand, work out where the wiring was going, where to put structural pieces in to make it secure but not too heavy and then have to travel to site to erect it in place. The factory had proper apprenticeships where you would see clueless teenagers turn up one week and in a few months it was fascinating to see their skills improve. Not just from an engineering perspective but it made them more sociable, especially when you had to work with people of all ages. Basically it made you grow up!
It may be a generalisation and I don't want to get all political but I think that's why so many people are unhappy in their daily lives. There is no sense of achievement sometimes.
The last time I was in London and you walk past these vast office buildings filled with suits, grey filing cabinets, headache inducing strip lights and I feel sorry for them almost. I've done the corporate world and there is no way I am rushing back to it. The money was great but you never got a sense of achievement. Now I know we need people to do these jobs or the country would grind to a halt but at least we could make the work environment a lot more interesting.
What we need is the people who design their own design agency spaces to go into drab office spaces and change them. I know you can't change the building itself into some trendy loft space or converted mill but you could change the inner shell to something more exciting and vibrant. As a nation we love decorating our own homes and choosing bold printed wallpapers, modern kitchens, colour everywhere and then where we spend nearly a third of our time, is grey and depressing.
So if the government is going to try and get Britain's youth into work, please don't shove them into soulless office spaces, create some small manufacturing units and get them making something for the nation. Not just creating jobs but creating products to increase sales that creates more vacancies that creates more youngsters brimming with pride at making a genuine contribution.
Ditch the suit, get your hands dirty and make something!
I MISS THIS..........
BUT NOT THIS............
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