The fire at Damside
Mill
On Tuesday evening our precious CNC machine had been humming
away in its purpose built, soundproof room in the Workshop, cutting out the
last chairs for the winners of the TENT London 2012 competition. The work benches were piled high with Edna drawers
ready for final coats of paint in the new colours for London Transport Museum, and
resting against the wall were the curves for the Mr Smith chairs and benches.
Upstairs all was quiet in the gallery. Sam Shendi’s Key Hole man smiled from the top of the
stairs, Laura Wellington’s Hula light glowed, and our furniture family of, Edna’s,
Sidney, Frank& Mrs Frank and Mr& Mrs Smith waited in the gallery for
their next visitors. CABLE chairs and
tables were stacked in colourful groups, and up the floating staircase on the
mezzanine floor, young Louby Lou, the latest addition to the family showed off
her long curvy legs to the admiring collection of Italian designer furniture.
In the Studio, all was in order, ready for Pauline’s upholstery
class on Wednesday morning. The students’ projects stood high on benches, their
new tweed upholstery and handmade buttons protected by dust sheets. A slight
draft blew through the old windows for the last few days before the new ones
were fitted.
Anthony turned everything off, said goodnight, locked up the
shutters and headed home.
Fifteen hours later, as
the fire crew left, the investigations done (not clear at this point what
started it), and the temperature still at -2, he made his way inside to see what
was left of the vision we had invested a whole year of time, effort and funds bringing to life.
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It was beyond a nightmare. The stairwell was burnt through, windows
broken, and a charred mass of ash, wood, electrical fittings and tools covered
the ground floor. Everything was very, very dark.
As the day went on and we moved things out and assessed the
scale of things, we realised that it could have been so much worse. The fire
had been drawn up the stairwell, and not sideways, and critically, it was
caught and managed quickly and effectively by our wonderful local fire crews.
While all of Anthony’s work in progress and materials have
been lost, we are hopeful that the CNC machine we worked so hard to buy can be
salvaged. The other machines are sturdy
old things which we hope will clean up Ok – they were mainly wet and smoky.
Upstairs, much of the gallery is in a right mess, as are a
fair few of the sculptures and furniture, but some amazingly still stand, and
Sam Shendi will rescue, repair and respray.
Best of all, the upholstery studio is mucky, smelly and
smoky, but intact, so Pauline will get back to starting our classes again as soon
as we have a staircase again.
For anyone concerned about Wayne, our blogging whippet, he
is a little sootier and grumpier than usual, but his tartan blanket was rescued.
While I write this, Anthony is out looking at temporary
workspaces to get back to work as soon as possible. We will rent local CNC
machines, spend our holiday savings on new handtools, order in some more
plywood and boards, and get cracking next week. And somehow we will fulfil our orders for
Samih Ghandour ‘s new Beiruit gallery,
and for the London Transport Museum’s 150th anniversary of the tube in
2013.
Our amazing landlords are dealing with the insurance company
to get us back into Damside as soon as possible, and Pauline is talking to her
students about coming back to finish their courses as soon as we’re all cleaned
up.
But our real assets haven’t been lost, or even damaged –
Anthony’s creativity and skill as a designer maker, Pauline’s gift for
teaching, Sam’s positivity and vision for his new sculpture space, and all of
our commitment to bring Damside back from the ashes in 2013.
Nel Hargrave
December 8 2012
Our thanks go to the
milkman who called in the fire, to Keighley, Haworth and other local fire crews
for doing an amazing job (SAVE HAWORTH FIRE STATION!) in not only protecting
our building, but being so supportive of us in shock too. To our Damside
neighbours who offered tea, coats, gloves and the use of their homes, to Les
and Stevie for starting the clean-up job, and to Liz and Russell for being there.
If you want to see what we used to look like,
If you want to see what we will look like, follow our journey from here at www.damsidemill.com, on twitter
@damsidemill or subscribe to the dog’s blog waynewhippet.blogspot.co.uk
Who we are in brief:
Damside is the
last working part of the historic Lees Mill in Haworth, previously owned by the
Merrell family. It sits just off Lees Lane near the Bronte Hotel. We are fortunate that its owners, a local family,
are committed to retaining it as a working part of Haworth’s industrial and
creative heritage.
Anthony Hartley
is a Yorkshire designer and maker of bespoke furniture. A joiner for over 20
years, he studied Furniture Design at Leeds College of Art in 2000, and launched his
first collection at London Design Week in 2011. His distinctive and colourful
work sells internationally and has featured in design media all over the world.
In 2012 he launched the CABLE collection of dining furniture at TENT London.
CABLE was bought pre-launch by Cabana restaurants for their prestigious new
Westfield London venue.
Pauline Keenoy is
an experienced and talented upholsterer who led courses at Leeds College of Art
for many years before setting up as an independent tutor and helping develop
the courses at Damside Mill.
Sam Shendi is an Egyptian
sculptor and designer who has made his home in Silsden and has recently started
winning international awards and acclaim for his sculptures. He has a permanent
exhibition at Damside and is (still) looking to move his studio there in 2013
Nel Hargrave
writes stuff, adds things up and makes cakes.
