Together

Salts Works is the co-working space on Saltaire Road that also houses The People Powered Press, the largest letterpress printing press of its kind in the world. As well as providing a shared workspace with fast wi-fi, room for meetings and endless coffee, they host workshops covering various types of printing, calligraphy and photography. They've made the area outside into a little garden and often have posters with poems or slogans on display. I think it has grown into a nice little creative community since it started up a couple of years ago. See also HERE and HERE.

The poem in green type says: 'With our deeds undone by green powers - their seeds grown to great towers - who will not plead one last day of hours - among the weeds and wild flowers?'

What's inside?

It's a familiar building that I've shown many times on my blog, situated on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal just outside Saltaire. This is Shipley Wharf, originally canalside warehouses and then converted into business units. It houses part of a business called Radio Design, which makes RF technology (don't really understand this!) - something to do with wireless communication. It also houses a restaurant, the Waterside Bistro. At one time there was a gym in the end unit, which closed in 2018. It has recently been imaginatively converted into small studios: Wharf Street Studios. The brainchild of a local furniture maker, James Whittam, he was seeking affordable premises for his own business and, upon finding the three storey space, realised it could become a hub for creative businesses and artists. 

Two floors have been imaginatively divided into wooden 'pods', which carve the space up flexibly without affecting the building's original structure, whilst the top floor is a meeting room and conference space. It has recently opened for business and within the premises I found jewellers, artists, a florist, textile designers, an upholsterer, a milliner, a newborn and family photographer, a ceramic designer and several others who were not open when I looked round. There's also a coffee shop, conveniently sited for both the businesses and passers-by to pop in. 

A jeweller's workshop (above) 

Abigayl Lily, floral design (Claire Moses) 

Salt Weave Studio, textile design and weaving (Rebecca Ough) :

Marns Makes, upholsterer (Alice Marns):

Karolinka Designs, jeweller - although I think the cards might have been by an artist friend sharing the display space: 

The conversion has retained some of the original winding gear that would have been used to lower goods onto canal barges. I just love it when people have such great ideas for respecting the heritage of our lovely old buildings - and in this case it is another advance in making Saltaire and Shipley a real centre for the creative arts. See HERE for a press feature about it. 

 

Split level

The upstairs space at Salts Works, run by design studio Split, is being offered as a co-working space and meeting room, an alternative to the kitchen table / spare room / bit of windowsill that many people have had to use to work from during this past eighteen months. With desk space, a superfast internet connection, a kitchen and excellent free coffee, I imagine it may appeal to creative entrepreneurs who don't want to have to commute to Leeds but do want to escape from home, at least for a few days a week, into a warm, supportive and convenient shared community workspace.   

The People Powered Press

I recently mentioned (see HERE) the new Salts Works enterprise, run by design studio Split, who have taken over a building on Saltaire Road. They held a grand opening weekend recently, so I went along to have a look. 

The ground floor is the home of The People Powered Press, which holds the Guinness world record for the largest letterpress printing press of its kind in the world (see HERE).

A non-profit Community Interest Company, they work with community groups and individuals to make large scale letterpress works. They are also planning to run workshops related to writing and printing.  

On the Open Days, they were letting visitors have a go. I watched two young ladies printing a large poster and then I was able to have a try myself, inking the letters, placing the paper on top and then rolling the huge press across it to transfer the ink to the paper. It all felt very smooth and rather satisfying. All the 'ta' posters made will, apparently, be sent to hospitals and other services that have kept us going through the pandemic, as a way of saying 'Ta' (thank you).  

(I obtained their parents' permission to use these photos but have blanked out the girls' faces anyway.) 

They have their own specially created typeface for the letterpress: Graft. The letters' forms take inspiration from the north's rich industrial heritage, using the shape of a cross-section of a steel I-beam as the start point. Their aim is 'to amplify local voices' using this 'typeface for the north'. 

Salts Works

For a long time, this site on Saltaire Road housed a rather rundown shop/showroom space that had a multitude of different tenants and uses over the years. A few years ago, that was demolished and this rather smart, architect designed building was constructed. It must have been a speculative venture and it has stood unfinished and empty now for several years. Recently there has been work going on there and then I had a leaflet through my door, advertising the new users: Salts Works.  

The ground floor will be the home of the non-profit People Powered Press: the world's largest letterpress printing press, relocating, I believe, from somewhere in Leeds. They work collaboratively with community groups and individuals to create poetry, creative writing and large-scale letterpress works and will also run workshops related to writing, calligraphy, printing, book-binding and signwriting. 

The upper floor will be a new 15 desk co-working space, run by design studio Split, with access to meeting rooms, desk spaces and internet. It's opening at the beginning of July. 

What was designed as a car park at the side will now be a garden. That sounds nice... with my only reservation being that it will likely put even more pressure on nearby streets, which are already chock full of local workers' parked cars during the week. 

It all sounds rather exciting to me and is just the kind of venture that should do well in this neck of the woods, Saltaire being already quite a creative hub. I wish them every success. (Just don't park outside my house!) 

(See HERE for their website and HERE for a recent press write-up)

Turf research

I find it quite heartwarming, for some reason, that such an august institution as the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) is based, unassumingly, on the St Ives estate in Bingley. You hardly realise it's there, tucked away in some modest buildings with a few fields, below the golf course. It dates back to 1929, when The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland wanted help to improve its greens. Since then it has become the world's leading sports turf consultancy. Their clients include FIFA World Cup Football, the Olympics, Sport England, the RFU and the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. You rarely see much evidence of activity there but one day, as I walked up the lane alongside, I saw these test patches marked out, apparently seeded, and a technician in a white bodysuit was hand spraying or spreading something in the distance.