The Making

Jim was one of the last neon-sign benders in West Virginia. We worked in his studio filled to the brim with neon and glass in a holler just outside of Charleston. Jim custom designed and made the Makeshop sign and installed in our our space the week we moved in, serving as a beacon of light for all of us.

Mailman by day…artist, sculptor, welder, visionary all the time in between. Nik designed and built our grid weld sculptural wall that separates our space over the course of 12 months. The piece was built in his studio at Apartment Earth in downtown Charleston, and installed in a modular format by Nik and his father. You should see the handmade door and hinges.

Contractor Rachel and her team from WV Women Work have restored multiple spaces in our building, from the Etta loft to the first restructuring of the one of our storefronts. She always keeps an eye out for ways to reuse materials, and even turned the old pine shelves from the former Trophy Shop into flooring in one of the lofts.

Nina Alexander, a sculptor, maker, and builder from New England and friend of the founder, designed the first Makeshop storefront, collaborating with local glass and steel suppliers, and built it in collaboration with Megan Payne.

Sign-painter and tattoo artist Kayleigh resided in the Makeshop building for two years, and helped support in painting and sign-painting along the way.

Landscape Architecture by trade, Maram is a coworker at the Makeshop space, and self-initiated the design/build of the cement form planters in the front of our space.

What started as plumbing job for a union welder in our basement turned into turned into a creative transformation. Megan welded the Makeshop storefront in collaboration with sculptor Nina Alexander, and then took the lead on the design/build of the matching Vandalia storefront, bringing women in under with wing to assist her, and teaching them the welding process along the way. Megan has since begun welding furniture, and has created many of the furniture pieces in the building in collaboration with other artists, like Megan Bullock. While Megan was welding, her son Zavian tagged along to hang out in the studio, eventually inspiring our youth coding programs.

Retired firefighter, state Monopoly Champion and builder Ed graced us with his charm, stories, kindness, altruism and building skills over a six month project restoring our Hazel loft. If you see him, ask him how he onced saved a child in the Kanawha River, ask him about his secret society, ask him about his cars. Ed is an Appalachian gem, always giving of himself and taking care of everyone around him.

Ray is our neighborhood watch. Since the beginning of this build renovation in 2015, Ray has been present and supportive, leading demolition of the building, preserving every piece of history he could find, showing up late at night with break-ins, or early in the morning to help with a new project. Once a month he takes care of our back green space, and keeps an eye on the alleyway for us. Makeshop would not be here without the friendship, support, loyalty and hard work of Ray through the years.

Hi! I'm Megan. I live in between Charleston, West Virginia and Brooklyn, New York, and run a design studio focused on inclusive practices that put people first. I love making space for people to have new experiences - to experience new places, new ideas, new conversations - and I love taking what is left behind and bringing it back to life again. I hope you enjoy our apartment above Makeshop - that we've revived from this 100 year old building.