Photo: Margriet van Vianen
A skylight provides light. Dire Straits can be heard softly from speakers on the wall. ‘Easy listening, something for everyone. Classic rock, that sort of thing,’ explains Sanders, who shares the workshop with seven colleagues. All men. They deliver tailormade work. Anything you can’t buy readymade at the shops. He’s been working for WUR for 38 years now. He started out as a kinds of amanuensis at Organic Chemistry, and ended up at the workshop in the Biotechnion building. Six years ago, the group moved onto campus, where the studio is tucked away behind Zodiac. Sanders is in his element here. ‘No two days are the same. The diversity in assignments is super.’ He grabs his mobile phone to show me some completed projects. A series of cupboards, racks, shelving, couplings and all sorts. ‘Creative? Yes, you definitely have to be that here. Clients often ask: how did you come up with that? And I say: well, you asked for it! It is a question of listening carefully and of practical insight.