Sara Aschliman is an architect and entrepreneur. When she joined forced with event coordinator and artist collaboration Shelby Center, master carpenter and teacher/mentor Jeff Meyung, and a plethora of others who share a passion for renewing and elevating artist and trade skills as a professional venue or for therapeutic benefit, The Work+Shop was born.
“The Work+Shop is a multi-purpose event space, creative arts studio collective, and seasonal retail market, with he goal of adding an educational component offering craft and life skill programming,” explains Aschliman. “It is designed to be a customizable space available for meetings, private gatherings, classes, and as a working space for local artists and entrepreneurs.”
The inspiration for The Work+Shop came from a passion for creating a unique space in Cincinnati that allowed for creatives to gather and generate, collaborate, teach, learn, and showcase their work while also celebrating the process and product of making art.
“The overall idea is to bring people tougher through artisan driven education and gatherings built for and by the community,” says Aschliman. “We wanted to create a customizable space that was welcoming to everyone to host an event or learn a craft or skill.”
Although new to Cincinnati, The Work+Shop hit the ground running and is ready to bring new and exciting things to the area. According to Aschliman, there are a variety of things you can find from The Work+Shop. There are artisan retail markets featuring clothing, jewelry, art, home decor, books, beauty products, baked goods, and more all made by local artists. The Studio Spaces at The Work+Shop are currently occupied by creative writers, painters, multi-media artists, and vintage curators. Public and private events available to host at The Work+Shop range from intimate gatherings to professional meetings to music and spoken word performances. Community classes are coming soon, and will focus on craft and life skills such as cooking, woodworking, painting, and general health and well-being.
In opening The Work+Shop, Aschliman and the team is determined to create a valuable space by the purpose and products of the people who use it. “Our goal is to create the space and opportunity, but we are dependent on local talent to fill and use it, therefore, The Work+Shop’s success is closely tied to the success of the local artists, entrepreneurs, and students who inspired it,” she adds.
Learn more about The Work+Shop and follow along on Instagram.
