Business idea - craft studio / DIY maker space

This is very much a 'wonder if it would work' idea...

So you have an empty building by the road that's kitted out with a kitchen and toilet area. The thought is to make it a space that people can drop in and for a (suitable) contribution try their hands at various crafts. I'm thinking fibre arts - hand spinning, dyeing, weaving, needlefelting, knitting etc. Maybe basket weaving, printing. With refreshments I'm thinking it could be a nice place for people to hang out when the weather is poor, meet with neighbours (maybe a craft club membership?) or for holiday makers to get a feel for local materials and make a unique souvenir.

You'd need skill in the crafts to teach, suitable materials, insurance...

Thoughts?

Lovely idea! That's something I could do when I move to the countryside.

I very much like you idea.

More and more I am seeing folks take there dates to a place much like that.

On place has a assortment of blank pottery for folks to paint and take home with them.

Another place has canvases for folks to paint and take home with them.

Jewelry making, cook a new recipe, play board games or puzzles, are some I have seen couples on dates.

Then there are the ones for families to enjoy with there kids.

Some idea I hadn't thought of there Anne - thank you!

Anne Miller wrote:On place has a assortment of blank pottery for folks to paint and take home with them.

That reminds me we did this with one of my sisters as a pre-marriage hen party - great fun! I've still got my pot I painted

A nearby library has such a makerspace, mostly devoted to sewing and fiber crafts, but it also has a few 3D printers.  I don't make many trips there, but it doesn't seem especially well utilized any time I drop in.  

(A big part of that, I suspect, is that the surrounding suburban culture has more of a go-go-go working mentality.  And the space, while colorful, lacks that cozy "come and stay a while" welcome feeling.)

So I think the idea is fun, but the secret sauce would be really understanding the surrounding community needs and target audiences, and then crafting (pun intended) the space to their needs.

For example, designing a cozy and inviting space and events for...

1) Urban stay-at-home mom with kids in tow nearing nap time:
  - Need close social interaction with other parents
  - Need safe place for kids to play semi-supervised
  - Need quick projects, easy to pick up and start or finish

vs.

2) Suburban after-school teenager clique:
  - Need a comfortable place to hang out in small, private groups, or solo undisturbed
  - Need Wifi
  - Need right level of challenge / risk / reward in projects

vs.

3) Rural singles working on challenging long term projects late into the evening.
  - May need deeper instructional expertise from teachers (compared with newbie crafters)
  - May need more space or more advanced equipment
  - May need consistent offline marketing and communication to maintain buy-in to projects
  - Challenge to create connections among individuals of different skills and respecting introvert vs extrovert needs

George Yacus wrote:the secret sauce would be really understanding the surrounding community needs and target audiences, and then crafting (pun intended) the space to their needs.

Great points George - and probably why I'm a rubbish businesswoman! Attention to detail like that can make the difference between success and failure. I'm thinking in the right space you could be all those places at different times of the day and maximise the use of the space.

In America, I think most cities of 150,000 have both a makerspace and at least one yarn shop. Both of these institutions, to some degree or another, meet the description you've provided. If you're in the middle of nowhere, it's harder to see working.

On the one hand, my first thought is that there has to be something more profitable you could do with the building. But on the other, there are a lot of buildings going unused where I live and I wonder if it's because they're holding out for something "more profitable" -- letting perfect be the enemy of good. And also, most profitable might not be your only motivation. (I see a lot of weird little yarn shops in the middle of nowhere that I think have to be more reasonably called a hobby than a business -- it seems like stores with more custom go out of business all the time.)