A space for artists and makers
“The idea was to create a community where artists, makers and entrepreneurs can rent a table, workshop, studio or floor space on a rolling monthly basis in an environment with a creative and collaborative energy to it.”
“It’s probably a lifelong project, but an exciting one,” says Rusthall resident Danny Hayter, who has recently been interviewed on BBC South East news about his work to turn a hundred-year-old former cedarwood greenhouse factory in Bells Yew Green into a creative community of makers, artists, and entrepreneurs called Space2Make.
Space2Make in Bells Yew Green
Danny lives with Alexa Marsili, a scenic artist and propmaker, their two children who go to school in the village and their dog Vee. Until March 2020 he was running All Scene, All Props, specialist builders for theatre and the arts, whose work has included Tina: The Tina Turner musical, Kinky Boots, 42nd Street, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with business partner Piers. “We were friends at university and set up the business together when we graduated in 1999,” Danny explains. “We were based in North London for the first few years, and when we outgrew our premises, we moved to Goudhurst before we found this building, which is huge and allowed us to do each part of the set building process – woodwork, metalwork, and painting – in one place. We excavated the footprint of a West End stage so that we could put a whole set together on site. Fifty-three weeks ago, we had four sets in this building,” he tells me. “Some of them never made it onto the stage. It was gutting.” The suddenness with which the closure of theatres made the successful business unsustainable was devastating. “We had twenty-five employees and when we realised we had to make them redundant it was obviously horrendous,” Danny says. “Many of them had been with us for a long time. The workshop manager had been with us for seventeen years. A couple of people who worked for us live in Rusthall.”
During the bleak months of the first lockdown, a new idea began to form. The building has three vast consecutive rooms with lots of natural light and high A-frame style ceilings. It has a history of being used for craftsmanship, and it already had tools for wood and metal work and a paint library. “It’s a space we couldn’t leave,” Alexa explains. “We had to fight for it.” The idea was to create a community where artists, makers and entrepreneurs can rent a table, workshop, studio or floor space on a rolling monthly basis in an environment with a creative and collaborative energy to it. “The idea of a maker space isn’t new,” Danny says. “There are similar setups in London and Brighton but nothing near here. I think it’s really cool for the local area, like a co-work concept but for artists and creatives. We had the equipment already, and we were used to plenty of people working here. We had a long time to think about what we were doing, and the development of it so far has been quite organic. It has been an emotional rollercoaster but having worked with Piers since the 90s we wanted to still do something. On our positive days, which didn’t come every day, we became committed to this idea because we saw how great it could be.”
The first thing they did was make a sign for the new venture, which they called Space2Make. “About forty to fifty people have stopped to see what we are doing since then, and their ideas have been an invaluable resource. The enthusiastic response just from putting a sign up helped us realise how many local creative businesses there are,” Danny says. Early on they started to work with local Paul who creates car sculpture in the space and designed their website. Today occupants include a guitar maker, a leather worker, a company who make bespoke display units for museums and galleries, the sculptor Guy Portelli and artist Claire Luxton. Rusthall artist Suzy Phillips has taken a desk for a month to work with reclaimed wood and driftwood she has been collecting. “We have bigger spaces where we have someone interested in doing life-drawing classes, and it could also be used as an exhibition space,” Danny says. “In June five or six of the artists taking part in the South East Open Studios are going to have their studios set up here.”
The hope is that so many creatives working in the same space will inspire and learn new skills from each other and people can try out new machines and disciplines. “People want to make stuff when they come in,” Danny says. “There’s an energy to the place.” Much of the physical work involved in creating the different spaces has been done by Danny, who built the self-contained studios himself. “I think I’ve lost two stone since this began,” Danny admits of the work he has put in. “We are embracing the slightly bat-cave quirky, multi-level nature of the space and being inspired by the building. Big windows plus the height of the space make it feel a bit like a New York loft studio but in the countryside.” While Covid restrictions need to remain in place, there is plenty of space for social distancing and ventilation, and the building has been inspected by a covid officer.
Danny Hayter and business partner Piers
“It feels strange that we have gone through the experience of this year and come out on the other side, Danny reflects. While he did not expect this new direction, it is clear it is a much-loved project he is pouring energy and enthusiasm into. “It’s the future. This is my job now,” Danny says. “We have a long way to go. We have thought of railway arch style workshops with an outdoor-indoor feel for ceramicists and iron workers, and tree houses in the woods. I’m not limiting my imagination in any way.”
Space2Make, Buckhurst Works, Bayham Road, Bells Yew Green, Tunbridge Wells, TN3 9BP.
