Affordable workshop space for artists and crafts people is a commodity in short supply in rural Dorset and Firebrand Artisans was born as a response to this lack of facilities. Our members joined forces in 2012 after experiencing first hand the difficulties of finding a suitable place to progress and use their skills to start up in business. Once we had pooled our resources we spent many months looking for a workshop, and were lucky to find a large barn on the outskirts of Shaftesbury with the potential to become a working craft centre. We moved in at the beginning of August 2013 and since then have been working long hours to bring the building up to a suitable standard. To date (Feb. 2014) we have upgraded security, restored and installed a lovely big window, cleaned and painted the walls, built work benches and furnished work areas and installed a wood burning range to provide some much welcome heating! As well as doing a whole load of research, paperwork, business courses, applying for grants, networking etc. we have also been collecting reclaim building materials so we can partition the barn into separate work areas and create an area that can be used for the benefit of other artists; either to work on specific projects or hold workshops. We've still got a long way to go before we get to where we'd like to be especially as we're working on a shoestring budget. Thanks to all the people who have shown their support and the many kind donations of surplus materials we've received so far. Currently, we have wood work, metalwork and stained glass artists working at the barn and we're aiming to be open to the public by this spring. This page is a record of our journey and a platform to showcase the work of our members and share it with as many people as possible.
