Blackhorse Workshop

Blackhorse Workshop is an open-access community workshop in London, which specialises in wood and metal processes, with affordable access to tools, space, and on-site technical expertise. The workshop was set up in 2014 by Assemble, LB Waltham Forest, the Mayor of London and Create. 

Building on the area’s rich heritage of craft and industrial production, the workshop's mission is ‘to become a socially pioneering world class centre for making’. Machinery support is on hand from highly skilled technicians, and members or visitors can build or fix anything from broken chairs to theatrical sets, bikes and furniture. It is also a place to grow a startup with the support of industry expertise and a community of makers.

The workshop is a place for both working and learning, for everyone from independent practitioners, individual hobbyists through to sole traders and small businesses. It offers a wide range of equipment and a regular programme of classes and activities. A café-bakery and brewery are open to the public, space is offered for hire, and a monthly food and maker market.

Blackhorse Workshop is an interim use, supported by a long-term vision. Simple, utilitarian materials are coupled with hand-crafted elements, such as a range of furniture designed to be entirely reproducible on the machines within the workshop, to create a practical space with an economy of means. The flexibility and simplicity of the built elements are both intended to suit its robust current use and to be easily moved to an alternative location.