Aspen Yard in Toxteth is a hub for creative artists in Liverpool offering studio space and workshops.
Set up by Granby Workshop, it has spaces for over a dozen creatives and artists to operate from.
Aspen Yard has added to the vibrant and multicultural mix of food, shops and now art that people can eat, shop and purchase in the Lodge Lane area of Liverpool 8.
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Granby Workshop is an architectural and design manufacturer which produces high quality ceramics for projects and interiors worldwide.
The workshop, operational since 2015 became a Community Interest Company in 2019 and soon after moved from its original location on Granby Street to 1 Aspen Grove where Aspen Yard is located facing Tiber Football pitch off Lodge Lane.
Moving allowed the workshop to expand its production capacity, create new positions and set up studio spaces for other small businesses and creatives in the city.
Visit the Granby workshop website or instagram @granbyworkshop for information.
New creatives are moving in all the time with a variation of artists showcasing and selling their wares.
Andrea Ku runs b4biodiversity a small Community Interest Company aiming to improve the local area and to learn about the environment to make it a better place.
Teaching bee keeping is one of the main things Andrea does in many areas across the Liverpool City Region and utilises some of the honey after harvesting.
Andrea told the ECHO: "I make hand, lip, face and body balms made with the beeswax from my bee hives and also candles.
"I have two studios here and I live in Liverpool 8, so it is absolutely ideal for me.
"It's a massive kind of weight off my mind because I had stuff all over the place in other people's houses.
"There is also a really, really good friendly community of organisations here like a little family.
“We get on well to support each other and help each other out."
Visit instagram @b4biodiveristy
Clare Jasmine Beloved’s Toxteth Gallery and Beloved Studio is where she exhibits her own work.
She hosts a rotating guest artist exhibition space for under-represented artists from the community that find it hard to get exhibition space elsewhere.
Clare said: "We collect donations to be able to provide these artists with somewhere to show their work free of charge.
"Studios are so hard to come by. I have been moved five times in the last few years.
“Aspen Yard is a friendly welcoming space which has allowed me to have affordable space minutes from my home.
"It’s an incredible community resource."
Clare added: "Creating is in my blood transforming feelings, emotions, life stories, wounds, dreams and ideas into beauty."
Her work is full of goddesses, magic mermaids, sensual sistas and sacred imagery and symbolism and the gallery is free to visit by prior appointment.
Visit instagram @clarejasminbeloved or her website for information.
If you like cakes and puddings then Desserts by Dre is for you.
Dre Carrington from Barbados and his apprentice, Ana from Romania run a bake to order company.
It has been Dre's dream since an eight year old to run his own bakery and he has been baking since then on the side and later training in kitchens.
They specialise in unique combinations using traditional recipes from 60's and 70s Barbados, England and Romania.
Dre said: "If you have a cheesecake or brownie it will be a completely different flavour twist.
"I emailed and they were excited as they had heard about my brand.
"It happened very fast. It was perfect as I knew this was the right area for me."
He added: "A perfect blend of where it was, who was around, the affordability and the space they provided for us."
Having started doing the occasional market before the Covid lockdown, Dre eventually started in Aspen Yard in September 2020.
Visit instagram for information @dessertsbydre
If you are in need of a repair and don’t have the tools and can't afford to buy them; the Tool Library is for you.
Run by Imogen Woolley, the Tool Library shares DIY tools instead of books.
Imogen said: "Our inventory is made up of over 600 donated tools that can be browsed online and borrowed.
"We believe in fixing to learn new skills, feel good and to reduce waste."
Imogen added: "Use the yard as much as you can, talk to people, collaborate and get involved. Who knows what might blossom from it.
"There is an energy brought by all the organisations and people in Aspen Yard, it’s electric and it's a community that supports and uplifts one another.
"We couldn’t think of a better place to open our doors."
Visit Liverpool Tool Library website for information.
Michelle Peterkin-Walker runs Akoma Arts, a cultural arts company producing greeting cards, pictures, posters, t-shirts and keyrings of African people in the diaspora.
Michelle said: "The idea is to show positive representations, culture, life and our heritage and I put all that into my arts practice.
"I do arts and creativity/craft workshops and videos, where we can actually give a voice and expression to some of the things we do."
Michelle also puts together short films and archive footage to showcase the variety of what her art represents.
She added: "For me Aspen Yard has been a Godsend. A really important initiative.
"It's given me a proper base, a shop where people can come and buy my crafts, a gallery space and it's also a workspace.
"Being here is a major uplifting for me, really helped me connect and start to focus more and broaden out. It's been all good.
Visit instagram @akoma_arts
Sumuyya Khader is a freelance illustrator and artist working in a multiplicity of ways with major institutions, projects, publishers, social enterprises and artist-led groups.
She also runs the Granby Press, a community print shop built as a resource for the local community to print zines, newsletters, flyers and artworks.
Sumuyya said: "My practice is a combination of illustration, painting and print works that predominantly explore place and identity.
"An artist of empowerment, both through the combinations of text and images in my work and also through the action I take beyond my studio."
Her first solo show 'Always Black, Never Blue' opened at Bluecoat Liverpool in October 2021 and her next show is part of a group exhibition Refractive Pool: Contemporary Painting in Liverpool opening at Walker Art Gallery in April 2022.
In 2020 Sumuyya curated Celebrating Black Liverpool Artists, an outdoor exhibition at the Bluecoat as part of Liverpool City Council’s Without Walls programme.
This celebrated the work of five Liverpool artists and highlighted the lack of visibility for the work of Black women in the city.
Visit her website or Instagram @sumuyya for information.
Ceramics by Wayne is exactly that and is run by Wayne Freeman who is a BA Hons Design graduate from Liverpool Hope University.
Having been resident at Aspen Yard since June 2021 Wayne said: "I have done portrait art since 1979 and later decided to go into pottery, which I have done since 2016.
"I use a potter's wheel to make handmade ceramics and I also sell drawings too.”
He added: "Most of my pottery is made to order and occasionally I use moulds instead of my potter's wheel.
Wayne's pottery can be ordered online and collected once completed.
He said: "I find Aspen yard is cost effective to promote my small business."
For more information visit instagram @waynefreeman751
