Website Heartwood Cooperative Woodshop
Not a traditional job opening exactly, but…
From time to time, Heartwood needs a new member or two to add to the community, take advantage of our collective resources, and help pay dues. We currently have an opening starting March 1st for a full- or part-time member. Please take a look at the info below to determine if you’re a fit and get in touch if so.
Heartwood Cooperative Woodshop is a 48 year old woodworking cooperative in West Berkeley. We share a 3100+ square foot space in the Sawtooth Building on 8th street between Parker and Dwight.
The cooperative is operated a bit like a co-working space where you have some storage, shared bench space, and access to high quality cabinet-making and furniture-making tools. We collectively own and maintain all the large equipment in the shop, and members are expected to bring and use their own hand tools. Some common consumables are provided by the shop like shop towels, glue, and some sandpaper.
The are two classes of membership – Part time (up to 20 hrs/week in the shop) and Full time (up to 40 hours). Current membership varies between full time cabinet makers and furniture makers to part time hobbyists to contractors who largely work outside the shop but need shop space on occasions. As a cooperative member, we expect you to pay dues on time, come to one monthly three hour “Shop day” to do cleaning and maintenance and discuss collective decisions (recently they have been the second Saturday morning of the month), be a conscientious and respectful co-occupant, and share in the collective duties of running the shop. Woodworking experience as well as experience maintaining stationary tools is required. Members have their own independent businesses and if you plan to do installations, you’ll need your own contractor’s license. While we often share knowledge and sometimes jobs, we do not have a training/apprenticeship program and expect members to be self-sufficient and responsible, and experienced in operating standard woodshop machinery. We recently upgraded our dust collection system and just bought a new jointer.
Membership dues are $400/mo for part-time membership and $670/mo for full-time membership. A non-refundable buy-in of 2x monthly dues is required to join and can be paid over 3 months.
If you’re interested in exploring membership (or know someone in the Bay Area who might be), take a look at out website (https://heartwood.coop) and email us at membership@heartwood.coop. Send us a portfolio website link or photos of your work. If we think it looks like a good fit, we’ll likely ask you to come to the shop for a tour and conversation.