Fabrication Crafts seeks new base as Coney Street lease ends

The independent Fabrication Crafts has been in Coney Street since November 2018, when it took on residence for an estimated four months.

Fast forward, its lease is coming to an end on May 13, with the team now searching for a permanent base.

Fabrication Crafts is a social enterprise, set up in 2008 to support local artists and makers with work and retail space and a special interest in heritage crafts.

Based in Leeds city centre, it then set up shop in York and has been working with, and selling pieces by about 50 local makers in the three-and-a-half years since opening, creating a vibrant destination on the street.

As well as the retail side, the team is also behind the Coney Street Heritage Project, which went online last year, having started just before lockdown in February 2020.

They have been researching the history of the buildings, the people who lived in them and what they made and sold, from the 16th to 20th century, prior to Coney Street's commercialisation by bigger brands.

They have also been running heritage skills workshops, with the work supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

Chief executive officer Dawn Wood said: "This has proved to be a really fascinating project looking at how the street developed.

"You can see a real sense of community, families marrying families and the street fully occupied from top to bottom, as well as the growth of the modern city with many mayors and alderman as part of that history.

"There is still a lot more to do but we’re really pleased that this project is now being used by landlords, City of York Council and the University of York to feed into the dialogue around the future of the high street. We’re looking forward to developing it further."

Fabrication Crafts is currently at number 24 Coney Street, a timber framed property.

Dawn added: "We’re hoping to stay on the street and have a couple of properties in mind."

Any relocation would be dependent on how quickly landlords can arrange a lease, she said.

"We are looking for a permanent base and love being on the street.

"We’ve lots of ideas for its regeneration and want to be a part of it from our new bigger shop, bringing heritage, arts, community and culture as well as our fab makers."

The hope is to stay on the street and take on a bigger building. This would enable them to take on more local makers and have an independent fashion space as well as creative workspaces and a community hub to collaborate with local organisations and display the heritage findings.