Stay See Share /// Print Clan
Print Clan
I had a great chat with Arianna from Print Clan in Glasgow as part of our Stay See Share project. Find out more about our project via our recent blog - Stay See Share /// What is Stay See Share + What Are We Doing?
What is Print Clan: It’s “Everyone’s textile printing studio”, an inclusive printing studio in the heart of Glasgow helping grow creativity in people from any ability. They offer workshops, training and access to screen printing resources. Opened in 2018 before moving to 241 High Street in 2019, thanks to support of the members and Meanwhile Space project, Print Clan is a space that benefits the wider community and its community of members. Their values and mission statements really resonated with me and they were first on my list for dream studios to chat to.
Image from printclan.co.uk
Image taken from printclan.co.uk. Image shows the vision and mission statements – “Our Vision - To be a sustainable model for community development through engaging people with the craft of screen printing. Our Mission - Print Clan is an inclusive screen printing studio that nurtures creativity in people at any ability. We accommodate social, design and fine art based projects by offering access to screen printing resources and training.”
Our Chat: As part of the Stay See Share project, I’m having two hour chats with open studios/workshop spaces. Arianna was welcoming and open from the start of our conversation and we were soon steaming through the questions I had and pulling on more amazing insights that Arianna has from Print Clan and her other wealth of experience. I found many things in common in what I am looking to do with our textiles hub here in Aberdeenshire. Arianna also helped me to really question what I was doing and why in order to root out what was important to the community I was looking to bring together with the textiles studio. Her generosity in offering further support left me feeling energised and less scared about the unknown.
Screen printers at Print Clan, Glasgow
Hearing how the space started was a great help. I had only known of Print Clan as the amazing space it is on Glasgow’s high street. However, hearing how it started in a smaller space with less equipment then grew with support of its new members to the space it is now made me feel more confident in our little space. Our 2 x 6m studio is the testing grounds for our space, the will it work stage, before hopefully growing in size to offer more equipment, studio space and textiles specialisms. I had always thought there were only 2 ways to grow it, through private investment and own investment, however hearing that they grew their facilities through membership and time-back initiatives shown that there was another way to grow, growing with your community. This also tied in to a big question I’ve been asking, what legal set up should the textiles studio take? Print Clan is a CIC company, Community Interest Company. Meaning it’s a company that is a special type of limited company, existing to benefit the community not private shareholders. Within CIC’s there’s a couple of ways to set up but you need a board. This had always scared me. I’m happy with the idea of working with others but a board always seems like it would be controlling and scary (too much taking my information from TV programs maybe?) but when Arianna talked about Print Clan’s board it was brilliant! It sounds like a proper team of mentors and people who are interested in the progress of the values and vision in order to support the greater community. I asked about how the board came to be and how did Arianna approach them and what do they get out of it? As I wondered whether if I was trying to assemble a board in the future would I feel like I was pestering them for their time and input but really it sounded like it was a win-win situation. It’s funny how something as simple as a conversation can help put your mind at ease and open up a new route of investigation! So I’m looking in to CIC’s and maybe this is the way to go with the studio after we test the waters? I’ll keep you posted on my findings.
Image of members of Print Clan mixing colours
Print Clan has a great range of printing equipment ranging from 30 ft registration textiles print table, Steamer, Screens, Exposure Unit, materials and more. It’s a dream to have such a variety of industry level equipment and materials at your fingertips and it’s something we are building towards. We have a 2m print table, screens, squeegees and materials etc. but we will be looking to expand our equipment as our space grows and the number of members grow too. The way Print Clan grew the equipment for the space was great. The members invested in the equipment in return for time back in the space and with the equipment. I thought this idea was perfect especially for a CIC company, as the members were backing what they were going to be using, they could see the need and see the benefit. This type of equipment isn’t always accessible to many creatives due to the cost and space. The Print Clan community really see the need and importance of the space, and a big part of this is the way that Arianna and the rest of Print Clan communicate this.
There is a great sense of creative community in Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen area too so once we have settled in and start growing it would be good to test out this idea here. Thank you again to Arianna for sharing her time and knowledge with me! Find out more about Print Clan via their website and Instagram -
Our next chat will be with Amy Gear of Gaada in Shetland. Keep an eye on our website and newsletter to read about that interview first!