CHESTER DESIGN FOUNDATION
CHESTER DESIGN FOUNDATION, ōH CONCEPT STORE AND
ōH COLLECTIVE ATELIER STUDIO CELEBRATE OFFICIAL OPENING
BY PROFESSOR CAROLINE RUSH CBE, CEO OF THE BRITISH FASHION COUNCIL AND CHAIR OF THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES TRADE AND INVESTMENT BOARD
Thursday, 2nd November was an important milestone in Chester’s creative industries and retail landscape with the official opening of the Chester Design Foundation at 22 Bridge Street, where the ōH Concept Store and ōH Collective atelier studio, has recently relocated to.
The mission of the recently formed Foundation, an entrepreneurial community interest company (CIC), is to support the growth and development of the creative industries in the city – both start-ups and scale-ups – so that a sustainable place on Chester’s high-street is a genuine reality and migrating to Liverpool, Manchester or London to progress is optional, not conditional.
Professor Caroline Rush CBE, chair of the Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board (CITIB) and CEO of the British Fashion Council (BFC) – which organises London Fashion Week and the British Fashion Awards – performed the honours by cutting the ribbon at 1pm, before delivering a lecture to University of Chester creative faculty students. Later in the day she was guest-speaker at a partners’ and sponsors’ event: ‘Let’s put creativity at the heart of Chester’s future’ which included the inaugural catwalk show – produced by The Break Creative Agency – which showcased designs from the ōH Collective, followed by the first ever fundraising auction for the Foundation.
Professor Rush said: “When I was first introduced to the ōH team there were immediate synergies between the British Fashion Council’s mission and the ambitions of the Chester Design Foundation – giving a platform for creative talent to grow, mentoring them to grow sustainably and enabling them to reach new audiences from business networks to consumers. It is with great authenticity that the Foundation is today able to open this incredible – design, making and retail-testing – hub, in such a prestigious location and in a beautiful building. Our high-streets are at the heart of our communities and it is wonderful to see the Chester community come together to make this possible.”
Commenting on central Government’s recently published Creative Industries Sector Vision for 2030, she continued: “In my role as chair at CITIB I’ve seen for the first time the creative industries become a priority sector for Government with its ambition to achieve £78bn in exports by 2030. The development of those creative industry eco-systems outside of London are absolutely key to the UK’s prosperity, now, and in the future. But in today’s climate, with so much uncertainty and squeeze on spending, we need to double our efforts to support local independent businesses.”
The opening celebrations continued throughout Friday as a mini-festival of workshops including: The Green Table with University of Chester – an exhibition of student projects, with the opportunity to win a placement at the Foundation; followed by international design brands such as: Kvadrat textiles; Normann Copenhagen of Denmark; Parkside Terrazzo making and Agar Stone focusing a spotlight on sustainable design.
The backstory to this social enterprise is that in 2022 the original ōH Concept Store opened at 11 Lower Bridge Street and rapidly responded to give customers what they said they wanted – experiential shopping, slow fashion, handcrafted and sustainable products. Before the ōH Concept Store existed, there was no natural meeting place in Chester for many of the city’s creatives, they were mostly working out of their bedrooms and not selling much, except online.
Shortly after, the ōH Collective was born. It offered gallery, workshop and atelier studio space as well as retail-testing to a variety of makers and creatives, to demonstrate that if you have the skills, you can work anywhere. The ōH Collective now comprises 14 start-ups and scale-ups. Currently fashion-led, but also including a carpenter, a potter, a sculptor and a product designer.
That evolution has necessitated the move to 22 Bridge Street, Chester – a Grade ll listed building which, at 2,500 square feet is not only four times larger, but in a premium location. More than a ‘shop’ or trendy hangout – it’s a platform for creatives to design, manufacture and test-bed their products in an experience-based retail environment. The transformation of the space has been made possible by ōpenhōme, a development company with a philanthropic, as well as commercial, purpose.
The Foundation is working with a number of partners – Chester Race Company, Cheshire West and Chester Council and University of Chester – to champion local talent, empower growth and drive positive change towards Chester’s creative future. The University of Chester Fashion Design degree course is led by Delphine Wilson, herself an early recipient in 1995 of the BFC’s own original development programme, NewGen, which is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. Another major beneficiary of the NewGen scheme – that launched the careers of so many of the most talented British fashion designers of the past three decades – was the late, great, Alexander McQueen. One of the most celebrated fashion designers of his generation, having trained at Savile Row tailors, Gieves & Hawkes, McQueen combined British tailoring with haute couture, to become a global luxury brand.
Una Meehan, University of Chester Deputy Director of Partnerships said: “Today is a celebration of the power of partnership and community. There is clear evidence of the impact of creativity in placemaking and the way that creative work builds community and social capital. The associated wellbeing benefits of happiness and health are often underestimated. Creativity is an essential component of the entrepreneurial mindset and the city’s ability to support this kind of incubator workspace can bring together the next generation of businesses that will support Chester’s future prosperity.”
Bense Burnett chair of the Foundation commented: “The Foundation programme offers a development route for creatives which is currently unavailable. Our mission is to stop the talent drain by bringing them together with mentors, educators and industry leaders to support and encourage inter-generational talent to reach their full potential. Just imagine, if we had multiple units in the city-centre where creatives and designers could display and sell their work on our high-street – how much more interesting and vibrant Chester would become!”
The ōH Concept Store will – alongside the Foundation programme – continue to showcase a curated and unique selection of inspirational and aspirational lifestyle products, in addition to the garments and accessories produced for sale by the ōH Collective designers. The Foundation will offer a gallery and events space, which will help to develop a creative community around regular design workshops and curated events for artists and makers.
Monika Swindells, managing and creative director of the Foundation said: “For the first time, people with the right experience and creative vision have come together. They are professionals who understand the challenges of business as much as the creative process and development. But, above all, they understand the need to collaborate. We are so fortunate to have the support of our visionary partners, who see the value in giving creatives a real-life, high-street, retail-testing experience, and who have all played a fundamental role in getting this ambitious social enterprise off the ground.”
For more information visit www.ohfoundation.uk
