Working to be self-sufficient

Garden enthusiasts might have some hope after all, with Workbench Projetcs coming up with another installment of its ‘Maker Weekend’ series. 

They recently hosted an event at Rangoli Metro Arts Centre called ‘Maker Weekend: Workshop on Window Farming and Kitchen Gardening’. The decrease in land for agricultural purposes and a rise in adoption of environmentally unfriendly farming practices led to the conceptualisation of the workshop.

Anupama Prakash, founder of Workbench Projects, says that it is imperative for urban spaces to find sustainable and urban-friendly ways of meeting their fresh produce.

   There was a panel discussion which collaborated with eminent names like Dr Vishwanath Kadur, Vani Murthy, Dr Narayan Swamy and Nishchita Shetty to discuss window farming and kitchen gardening.

After the panel discussion, the registered members had a chance to get their hands dirty by decorating their balconies and window sills with upcycled and everyday discards like plastic bowls, PVC drain pipes, partially broken or unused ceramics. For people who don’t have the luxury of living in large houses, window sill gardening is a good option to get fresh produce.

Anupama and partner Pavan Kumar realised the constraints of living in a concrete jungle and decided to start ‘Workbench Project’ in December last year. Anupama says, “We used to work on a lot of projects and realised that getting resources and raw material for them was difficult.  We would have to travel all the way to Peenya just to get one thing.”
So in order to circumvent this problem, the two started ‘Workbench Project’.

It is a makerspace that is currently based in south Bangalore and serves as a space for self-expression, learning, collaboration, co-creation, problem-solving to support interesting and new work across disciplines.

The two have decided

to open a do-it-yourself workshop at the Halasur Metro Station, which will enable people to be self-sufficient. Anupama says that the space, which will open up
in November this year, will have everything that a person needs. As long as they are working towards a goal, they will find the material they need at the venue, from laser printers to tools and technology. She says a person needs only to be a member of the group to use the facilities.