Do you spend more time organizing your studio than making art?
I have.
Over the years, I’ve tried organization systems because I’d seen them work beautifully in other artists’ studios. Pegboard was one of them. It looked like such a practical solution, but for me, it created so much visual clutter that it simply didn’t work.
Eventually, I realized I was organizing too much for how a studio looked instead of for the way I actually worked.
My studios are working studios. I don’t need them to be perfectly organized. I need to be able to find what I need, use it, and put it away without the organization itself becoming another job.
These are the three simple principles I use.
Keep Things Where You Use Them
One of the simplest changes I’ve made is keeping frequently used tools and supplies close to where I actually use them.
For example, I used to keep all of my thread together in one cabinet. That sounds organized and technically, it was.
But every time I needed a spool of thread, I might have to walk across the studio to get it.
Now my quilting threads are stored in drawers near my large quilting machine, while my more general-purpose threads are stored near my domestic sewing machines.
I use the same idea with smaller tools. I keep snips at each sewing machine so I don’t have to search for something to cut thread. Small trays attached to the sewing tables hold things such as seam rippers, pins, and other tools I regularly reach for.
The same principle carries over into my dye studio. Gloves, measuring spoons, measuring cups, and other frequently used supplies are stored on shelves right above the workbench.
The point isn’t to keep similar things together simply because they’re similar.
Organize around where the work actually happens.
Give Things a Dedicated Home
The second principle is simple: things need a place to go.
When something has a dedicated home, you know where to find it, and just as importantly, you know where to put it when you’re finished.
That doesn’t mean everything needs to be within arm’s reach.
My fusibles, felts, and stabilizers, for example, have a dedicated storage area in the loft of my main studio. They aren’t materials I use every day, so I’m perfectly fine with needing a ladder to reach them.
I also have a multi-drawer unit for all those little extras that can otherwise become difficult to organize: tape measures, bobbins, sewing-machine needles, and similar supplies. Each drawer has a specific purpose.
Storage doesn’t have to be elaborate. It simply needs to make it easy enough to put things away that you’ll actually do it.
A dedicated home isn’t necessarily the closest place.
It’s the place you’ve decided something belongs.
Work With the Space You Have
Sometimes the best organization solution comes from accepting the architecture of your studio rather than fighting it.
My main studio has a water heater that couldn’t be moved. It needed to stay where it was, and it also needed to remain accessible.
Instead of treating it only as an obstacle, I built a sliding design wall that hides the water heater while giving me another useful work surface. When we need access to the water heater, the wall simply slides out of the way.
My dye studio provides an even more unusual example because it’s inside a 20-foot metal shipping container.
Rather than fighting those metal walls, I use them.
Magnetic hooks and zip ties support the fabric drying rack I’ve nicknamed the Octopus Brigade. The built-in cargo tie-down loops near the ceiling give me convenient places to hang things such as lights and electrical cords.
None of these solutions came from trying to create somebody else’s idea of the perfect studio.
They came from looking at the space I had and asking:
How can I make this work for the way I create?
Organization Isn’t the Goal
Those three principles have become my guide:
Keep things where they’re used.
Give things a dedicated home.
Work with the space you have.
Your solutions may look completely different from mine and that’s really the point.
A system that works beautifully in somebody else’s studio may be completely wrong for you. Pay attention to where you work, what you reach for, where things naturally accumulate, and what gets in your way.
Good organization should eventually fade into the background.
Because organization isn’t the goal. Making art is the goal.
Want a Simple Way to Apply These Ideas to Your Studio?
I’ve created a free 3 Simple Principles for a Working Art Studio Checklist that you can use to take a fresh look at your own creative space.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE CHECKLIST
And if you’d like to see these ideas in action, watch the accompanying video:
WATCH: 3 Simple Ways to Organize for the Way You Actually Work
