A LAUNCH-PAD for creative minds will give Bunbury’s historic Bill Brown building a new lease of life from this Friday.
The Darkroom, a “fast art, fashion, design and music” store which arrived on Victoria Street in 2011, has made the move into the top level of the iconic site.
The well-established business will act as the anchor for a “true creative space” where up to 10 tenants will hone their craft in a hub unveiled as Maker + Co.
The Darkroom owner Jordan Gianfrancesco said the idea had been brewing for years in countless passionate discussions with the brains behind Bunbury’s Re.Discover street art project, Andrew Frazer.
“It’s creative spaces and concept stores that will appeal to a huge variety of people – everyone from teens to grandmas,” Mr Gianfrancasco said.
“Everything will be 100 per cent original, stuff you can’t get anywhere else.
“The community has been screaming for something like this.”
As well as the Darkroom and other retail tenants including a shoe boutique and art gallery, the hub will host creative studios including Mr Frazer’s ADF Designs, home styling, floral design and more.
Mr Gianfrancesco said Maker + Co would also accommodate a wide range of workshops where community members could learn everything from floral arrangements to setting up their own creative business.
He said the new site was an “incubator concept” which would hopefully lead to tenants outgrowing the space and setting up their own business in the CBD.
“Growing up in Bunbury, it’s hard if you want to take a creative path which means a lot of people end up leaving the city,” Mr Gianfrancesco said.
“Everyone in Maker + Co has left and come back – now we’re ready say ‘Hey world, we are here, we are just like our big city cousins but we are in cool little Bunbury’.”
An opening night will be held at the new store on the corner of Victoria Street and Symmons Street on October 3 from 5pm to 9pm.
