Jun 27

Jun 27 Gather Round

With its first location in Southville’s Cigar Factory and now a second location in Brunswick Square, Gather Round was created to make space for community and collaboration as much as for our everyday working lives. We asked the people at Fiasco, the design studio behind it, to tell us more about what makes their creative workspace different, how they bring ideas to life and how they have created a positive culture centered on people.

What is it: Gather Round is a growing family of unique creative workspaces, designed to foster a positive community of like-minded creative people through an open and supportive culture.

Why do people need It? Gather Round was set up in 2018 by us, Ben Steers and Jason Smith, Bristol-based business owners of Fiasco Design. We had struggled to find a workspace for our design studio that wasn’t an office, didn’t tie us into a long-term contract and crucially, didn’t charge obscene rates. After chatting to other creative business owners, we soon realised that we weren’t alone. It was time to shake things up. And so Gather Round was born. Built by creatives, for creatives.

What do you offer? Across two locations in Bristol, our considered workspaces are designed around the needs of those who work within the creative industries. Made up of flexible areas with fixed and casual desks, private studios, meeting rooms, production studios for hire, hang-out areas, communal kitchen tables, quiet rooms for headspace and event spaces. At Gather Round you can do your thing, your way.

What makes Gather Round different? As creatives ourselves, we know what makes a great workspace. No indoor caravans, tardis-style meeting rooms or artificial grass in sight. Just thoughtfully designed spaces. We provide the right ingredients for creative professionals to flourish; we’ve had businesses born from Gather Round and creative collaboration between people is a natural part of everyday working. So whether you're musing over an idea, hashing out a project, or launching your plan for world-domination - we’ve got it covered.

Our beautiful coworking spaces are nothing without the community of creatives that call them home from home. Filmmakers, designers, writers, publishers, art consultants, brand strategists, photographers and more… Our members are an eclectic and talented bunch. They’re also excellent people that make our special workspaces unique.

What do our readers need to know? Gather Round is fully open and accepting new memberships at both Bristol locations. As an independent business, we are able to be reactive to the changing landscape. We have adapted to new ways of working, putting our members and their needs first. Now more than ever, people appreciate the value of human connection. Zoom, Slack and the like, are fantastic but they don’t compensate for real-life interactions. We’re proud that our spaces help to bring people together, whether that’s via a project collaboration or enjoying one of our events with a post-work beer.

Tell us a little about your story: The pandemic was a really trying time for the creative industries. As agency owners of Fiasco Design, we were in the thick of it. Multiple projects fell through for us and we witnessed first-hand businesses fold, redundancies happen and talented creatives struggle to support their families. Throughout this, our members were there for one another; supporting each other through the tough times. Our community really pulled together. Many of us were thrust into working from home, often in less than ideal circumstances. Working from home for months on end can be lonely and particularly in the creative industries, it can lead to fatigue and burnout. It’s not surprising that since the end of restrictions we’ve seen an increase in people looking for somewhere to work away from home.

How can people be inspired by your space wherever they are? We are passionate about supporting creative endeavours and we have a blog on our site that is dedicated solely to this. Whether it’s learning how to bake sourdough bread, or reading about essential tools for freelancers, you can find it all on the Journal section of our site. You can also follow us on social channels to keep up to date with what our fantastic members are up to.