Celebrate Heritage Making at designermakers21 as part of the national Heritage Open Days
21 St. Nicholas Street, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 4LB
An Exhibition of Heritage Crafts in the heart of the Heritage Triangle in Diss. Showcasing brush making, paper making, lithographic printing all within the former ironmongers at 21 St Nicholas Street. Free workshops and demonstrations.
Diss, as an important market town, has always been the centre of both local commerce and manufacturing. We tend to forget how self-contained a town like Diss was- supported by specialist crops and industries- to supply the needs of local people.
The pattern of the streets, still evident today, show how livestock was brought to auction, sold and processed for meat and leather, all within walking distance of the town centre.
Crops were grown to serve specialist manufacturing needs and brought in from the neighbouring fens supported by institutions such as the Corn Hall and factories like the Diss Brush Company. But there were a host of small businesses supplying everyday needs from a new hearth for the fireplace to a new broom for the yard; from paper to formally printed documents.
At 21 St Nicholas Street, in the building that was for many years the location of Albrights the ironmongers, there will be an exhibition of the history of the building and demonstrations of bisom (brush) making using materials cropped from the nearby heaths, and of paper making with samples of stone lithography used to print commercial documents. Come and have a go at making and seeing how the local economy was largely self-sufficient not that long ago.
What’s On & Timings
Thursday 18 September: 1000 – 1700 Exhibition, Papermaking demonstrations& ‘have a go’ 1030-1430
Friday 19 September: 1000 – 1700 Exhibition, 1400 – 1600 Lithographic printing demonstration
Saturday 20 September:1000 – 1700 Exhibition, 1030-12.30 & 1300-1500 Besom (brush) making demonstrations and ‘have a go’, 1100, 1300 & 1500 Lithographic Printing demos.
All activities are FREE, pre-booking preferred. Please contact Paul Sharrock https://www.delaltprint.com/bookings
