October’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Michael Grigoriev to support the Ottawa City Woodshop, a community woodshop being established in downtown Ottawa.

“This city was built by the lumber trade,” explains Michael, “but as we grew we lost touch with that past. You’d be hard pressed to find any evidence of the role that wood played in putting Ottawa on the map. There are some exciting maker spaces opening in the city, but woodworking deserves its own unique focus. It’s a craft that I want to help Ottawa discover by providing access to the necessary tools, education, and space.”

“A membership-based woodshop will be a very exciting addition to the city’s growing creative community and provide a chance to build a real woodworking culture and identity in Ottawa,” Michael says. “The goal is to lower the costs and level of intimidation while increasing the accessibility to woodworking — making it possible for people who live in the city, don’t own the tools, and don’t have the space to come out and actually build something.”

For updates from Michael as he launches the woodshop, you can sign up at http://signup.ottawacitywoodshop.com.

Michael is a local designer and a graduate of Carleton's School of Industrial Design, where he was a teaching assistant in the woodshop. He is also a co-organizer of Creative Mornings Ottawa.