![\"\"](\"https:\/\/designermakerscio.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Albrights-001.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nIn 2013, the Corn Hall Trust, having seen 21 St. Nicholas street stand empty for more than four years, suggested to the Diss and Ipswich Quakers (who own the building) that the empty building would be an ideal setting for a crafter\u2019s collective. The Quakers generously accepted the idea and so began the work.<\/p>\n
The grade two listed building (which appears on the 1838 tithe map) quickly took shape. With a lick of paint and buckets of enthusiasm, in May 2013, designermakers@21<\/strong> opened with four craft studios for local makers. <\/span><\/span><\/span>Initially<\/span><\/span><\/span> the first four studios opened to the public for one day a week. Soon after, a second wave of makers moved in extending the conversion of storeroom and office space into practical and well presented studios, and the shop floor into several galleries.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n Opening hours were extended to three days a week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A large storeroom was converted into a gallery\/workshop space for the public to rent for exhibitions and workshops.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Another store room was converted to host a rolling, quarterly showcase space for three visiting makers at a time.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Six associate makers were invited to collaborate with designermakers@21<\/span><\/span><\/span> extending the variety of crafts on display in the permanent exhibitions.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Volunteers were invited to join the community, they now provide an invaluable service; welcoming visitors and directing them around the warren of studios and galleries, providing information to enrich their experience.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n In 2016 designermakers21<\/strong> set up the charity designermakersCIO<\/strong>, providing a corporate scaffold to support the growing ambitions to educate and spread the appreciation of craft throughout the local community and further afield.<\/p>\n designermakers21<\/strong> developed a reputation for craft excellence. With unfettered access to working makers\u2019 studios, supplemented with craft process taster days and galleries displaying a wide range of high quality items, designermakers21<\/strong> fast became a go-to place for visitors to East Anglia.<\/p>\n A donation from Dissigns of screen printing equipment and tools kick-started the emergence of \u2018The Old Whiteforge\u2019, a soon to be community asset (incorporating a darkroom for black & white photography), providing pre-press and screen process printing opportunities. With groups from Diss high school being among the first experiencers.<\/p>\n designermakersCIO <\/strong>started supporting makers in the community, showcasing their work in a dedicated gallery, facilitating opportunities to collaborate with members of designermakers21<\/strong> and providing a dedicated, temporary craft studio for guest makers to test their ideas.<\/p>\n Another donation (this time from Aurora Eccles school), of a kiln and ancillary equipment has allowed designermakersCIO<\/strong> to realise an early ambition of setting up a Ceramics workshop: \u2018The Potting Shed\u2019 has seen the conversion of a previously redundant building into a community access ceramics studio, coming online in late 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n Albrights of Diss was a hardware and ironmongers store that occupied 21 St Nicholas street Diss, opposite the Corn Hall, for well over a hundred years until it closed in 2008. In 2013, the Corn Hall Trust, having seen 21 St. Nicholas street stand empty for more than four years, suggested to the Diss and … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/designermakerscio.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/shopfront.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n To build on the initial success several initiatives were put in place:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/designermakerscio.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/1-yr-Anniv-10.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In 2015 designermakers@21<\/strong> changed its name to designermakers21<\/strong>, a change of identity that accompanied an up-tick in ambition as the Corn Hall Trust handed over the management of 21 St. Nicholas street.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/designermakerscio.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/plan-down-new-19b-1.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n At the end of 2017 designermakersCIO<\/strong> signed a lease with The Diss & Ipswich Quakers, with the option of buying 21 St. Nicholas street, to create a permanent home for Craft and Makers in Diss and it\u2019s environs. <\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"