Industrial Light

WALKING INTO CHARLIE’S SHOP was like tripping over something and falling headlong into someone’s very rumpled, overstuffed, disorganized closet. There were machines, cans, papers, paint, tools, and, of course, bits and pieces of bagpipes. That’s what Charlie does. He builds and repairs bagpipes.

All of this glorious disarray was illuminated by a few filthy, hanging, fluorescent tubes. No window light to speak of. No glorious beams shafting through well-placed slats. The existing light was a greenish, horrible mess.

When I think craftsman, especially an old-world-type guy like Charlie with the improbable mission of keeping the pipes humming, I naturally conjure something out of the movies. Some chap with white hair and a handlebar mustache, carefully scraping away at wonderfully detailed bits and pieces of stuff at a weathered worktable, beautifully drenched in soft window light. Picture perfect, in other words.