John Wright
Woodworking · 15 yrs at the bench
Who we are
A workshop home for every maker
Palettewick started from one conviction: creativity lives in everyone — it only needs the right bench, tools and encouragement. A decade on, our Mill Lane rooms buzz six days a week with timber dust, wet clay, ink and easy chatter.
First-timers and old hands, side by side
Our story opened in 2016 with two secondhand wheels and a borrowed kiln. These days Palettewick hosts ten craft disciplines — timber, silver, pixels, paper, script, paint, wool, watercolour, soap and clay — led by seven working makers who light up around beginners.
Benches stay deliberately small, each seat price covers every material and tool, and lectures are banned: you shape something tangible from night one, because a finished object is what turns curiosity into lasting confidence.
Come straight from the office, bring a friend, or walk in with trembling hands and no experience at all — a stool here already has your name on it.
10craft disciplines
7working mentors
2k+makers welcomed so far
Meet some of your mentors
Christine Garret
Jewelry design · trained goldsmith
David Soapman
Painting, knitting & soap · 12 yrs teaching
Elena Marsh
Pottery · 11 yrs at the wheel
Licenses & good practice
A public studio should be reassuringly dull behind the scenes. Palettewick carries a current city business license, full public-liability cover for workshop activity, food-handling certification for the snack table, and PAT-tested electrics at every bench. Each discipline's risk assessment is reviewed yearly — ask at the desk whenever you like.
Safe hands, relaxed minds
Each session begins with a brief safety walkthrough, protective kit is supplied wherever the craft calls for it, and our low mentor-to-maker ratios keep help one step away. Under-16s are welcome at weekend daytime workshops alongside an adult.
