Hi, we are Emma and Saffron and we are Directors of Bristol Textile Quarter CIC.
As a Community Interest Company, our mission has always been to strengthen our regional textile and clothing economy through providing affordable workspace and access to equipment.
Since opening our doors in 2015 we’ve provided incubation space for over 60 early stage fashion and textile practitioners, from knitters, weavers, seamstresses and print designers to milliners, costume designers and micro-brands. It’s been more than just a co-working space; its a community.
We are proud to say we have never previously relied on funding, but in the face of our changing and ever challenging economic climate – causing overheads to continually rise and making membership costs increasingly difficult for our members to justify – we now need your support to safeguard BTQ’s future by diversifying what we do.
What’s Next?
We’re evolving BTQ into a hybrid co-working studio and learning space comprising:
- Optimised layout and facilities for hosting and teaching workshops
- Continued membership access to shared studio and facilities
- [PIPELINE] Short-run production facility
By working more closely with South West England Fibreshed – a project which we host – we are creating a unique ecosystem that connects our urban design/make community with the rural, fibre and dye farming communities that surround it.
This transition will make the studio more inclusive, dynamic, and sustainable in the long term—but we need your help getting there.
Our Goal
We’re aiming to raise £10,000 in match funding for £10,000 we’ve already been awarded by the Trellis Foundation to support BTQ through this critical phase. This funding will help us to:
- Upgrade studio equipment and facilities to optimise the studio as a teaching and learning space. Collaborating with workspace specialists People and Spaces, we’ve already begun creating a more welcoming, accessible, and efficient layout.
- Develop our in-house workshop programme of hands-on short courses and workshops focused on practical skills-building in fabric and clothing construction where themes such as circularity, no waste, soil-to-soil systems, and mending are embedded throughout
- Build digital and administrative infrastructure to support the new hybrid model
- Cover essential overheads during low membership while we transition
- Community outreach with a specific focus on engaging younger people with textile skills
Why It Matters
Securing funding at this pivotal moment will empower us to revitalize BTQ’s role within the wider regional fashion and textile ecosystem, shaping hopefully another decade of operations with a pioneering approach to ‘doing fashion differently’ embedded with sense of place and sense of responsibility for our climate, our environment and our natural resources.
All donations will make a real impact.
