Diss-based community craft hub designermakers21 on the brink of saving building
A community craft hub, which has spent the past year fighting to raise funds to preserve its future, has been making a final push towards reaching its target.
In the run-up to Christmas, designermakers21 held a number of fundraising events for its Save Our Story project, which aims to raise £250,000 to purchase its home in Diss and a further £100,000 to fund necessary repairs.
In October, designermakersCIO, the charity behind the venture, announced that just £22,000 more was needed in order to purchase the building, with the help of a government grant which matches any amount raised.
Another announcement is expected in the coming weeks after the Christmas fundraising push.
The charity’s treasurer and trustee Marco Rayment said: “Following a surge in private and trust fund donations in the run-up to Christmas, designermakersCIO wait with baited breath to see if our story has been saved.
“Prior to Christmas, we held a number of funding activities, including a sale of art prints, paintings and craft machinery donated by supporters, raising £250, a cake-and-make social and crafting get-together, which raised £180, a postcard art sale raising £150 and a grand raffle of work donated by the members of designermakers21, which raised £500.”
The project has worked to buy and carry out work on the Victorian St Nicholas Street site to preserve it as a community centred hub of creativity, since it was announced more than a year ago that it would be going up for sale.
For the past 10 years, designermakers21 has operated as a non-profit creative space, with the number of craft studios and resident crafters housed there now standing at 12.
Its story began back in May 2013 with the support of the trustees of The Corn Hall and the generosity of Diss Quakers, to allow four craft studios to be opened to the public one day a week.
The centre embraces traditional and contemporary craft practices with an inspiring range of textiles, prints, sculptures, mosaics, jewellery, tailoring, weaving and carpentry.
Its ongoing aim is to educate and involve the community in all things craft while continuing to excel in various fields of expertise.