Shops / east street
Is East Street becoming Bristol’s making quarter?
Could East Street be becoming Bristol’s new making quarter? Well, according to one artist and shop owner, it is.
Print Paradiso, owned and run by Steven Dawson, opened in the old Stan Butts butchers on East Street in December.
The shop which had laid empty for several years is now occupied with brightly coloured prints of all designs and on all mediums.
is needed now More than ever
In the studio they offer hire to artists, they teach classes, they create their own designs and sell items on behalf of local artists and businesses who want to showcase their work.
Steven’s son and daughter had been in earlier that day, helping their dad with some T-shirts
Reflecting on the area, Steven says: “East street is a real mixture of things, all the barbers and the slot machines and the second hand shops, but then there are now lots of making shops and there are a few little independent restaurants.
“On East Street alone, we have four business set-up to teach people a skill or craft, including Make, Silver + Steel, No Frills Knitting and now us, Print Paradiso.
“At the start of North Street we have Frankenstein Press and Trylla. This area is becoming the ‘making quarter’ of Bristol.”
It is because of these things, coupled with the visibility that being on the high street brings that drew Steven to this area to set up shop.
He adds that people will peer their heads in having seen the equipment through the window. It also draws in older locals who have lived there all their lives, working in the local factories at a time when the business of printing was booming in Bristol.
He says: “They were quite happy about it because it is somewhere you could make things and produce things.”
“We made some bags for Rover Editions on Christmas steps and we’ve got these record sleeves for a techno label, which is gonna be fun,” he says.
He himself has lived in various places in South Bristol through the years, before settling near Bower Ashton.
Steven studied art at university, but the idea of being an artist and owning a store, came much late. Choosing to surf the wave of internet boom that happened in the 90s, he then spent 25 to 30 years working in web design.
The shift in careers he explains came from a need for change: “They’re is a lot of creativity in web developing and the people doing that are nice, interesting people. But the more I got into the project management and product management side the less I enjoyed it.
“I realised, it would be 9:15am and I’m already annoyed with everyone,” he laughs, a familiar sentiment shared by artists in their transition from the office to the studios.
“It just felt really soulless, whereas in the studio there was creativity and making going on, which may not always go as planned, but the journey feel much more human and enjoyable.”
If you are familiar with screen printing, you’ll know that it doesn’t always go the way you want, despite the best of efforts. It’s a core part of the creative process that Steven conveys is important and enjoyable, once you can move past what feels demoralising if you aren’t used to it.
I’m gonna try and sell my stuff and ideally, someone comes here, learns how print and then their work goes in the shop themselves. That would be amazing.”
Print Paradiso have an event upcoming as part of the Bristol Gallery Weekend which runs from Thursday, 20 to Saturday, March 22.
The event showcases the contemporary art scene in Bristol with a rich programme of events at a variety of art spaces, galleries, artist run projects and private art collections.
Steven will be hosting screen printing workshops throughout the weekend and hosting a launch event with music for Dan Speight: The Soft City – Turn the Page, on Friday, 21 March.
A replica of the Royal Academy of Arts by Dan Speight
While Steven currently has one regular screen printing workshop, he will be running classes for all ages and abilities, offering an interesting alternative to the “standard shops and bookies on East Street” in due course.
All photos: Hannah Massoudi
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