You can make just about anything at Artisans Asylum, the nonprofit makers space that moved last week into expanded facilities in Allston.
“There are tools for metal, tools for wood, there’s screen printing, laser cutting, 3-D printing, machining,” said Artisans Asylum member and former board president Sarah Miller, a woodworker. “If we wanted to, we could take pictures of you, 3-D print you today into a two-inch image, and then we could cast you by the end of the day out of silver, like a keychain.”
The nonprofit’s new space has two buildings, on Holton Street and Antwerp Street, comprising 52,000 square feet, said executive director Antonio Viva. One houses larger projects, such as bespoke, retro-fitted bikes made by SCUL (“It used to stand for ‘Subversive Choppers Urban Legion,’” said founder Fleet Admiral Skunk. “Now it means ‘SCUL Can’t Use Acronyms’”); or large metal projects such as kinetic and light artist Douglas Ruuska’s spiral galaxy, lit by thousands of fiber optic cables. The other building is for finer work: jewelry, robotics, fiber art.
The accommodations are roomier than Artisan Asylum’s previous 42,000-square-foot facility in Union Square in Somerville. Negotiations for a lease renewal there fell apart in 2021. Artisans has been without a home base for a year.
“We’re hoping to go back to offering unfettered access to a makers’ wonderland,” said Viva.
Board president Ariel Matisse said anyone who can’t afford the $200 monthly membership fee can instead donate time in exchange for a membership, and financial aid is available.
The move, engineered by previous executive director Lars Hasselblad Torres, gives Artisans Asylum more security and opportunities for growth. He reached out to developers at Berkeley Investments,said Berkeley’s director of development Morgan Pierson, an Artisans Asylum board member. The new space is not a Berkeley project, but the developer introduced Torres to Harvard University’s real estate division.
Allston is a burgeoning cultural hub, home to Harvard’s Zone 3, ArtLab, and Ceramics Program, and the film production company Red Sky Studios. Last week, Harvard, which owns roughly a third of the neighborhood, filed plans with the city of Boston to move American Repertory Theater there.
Artisans Asylum and Harvard signed a 12-year lease with two optional five-year extensions, said Viva, who started in July.
Artisans Asylum, founded in 2010, claims to be one of the oldest and largest makers spaces in the country. Its Union Square facility is the third building the nonprofit has outgrown. Allston has bigger social areas, co-working spaces, and shops, and a similar number of studios — roughly 160 ranging from 50 to 200 square feet, at $300-$900 per month, rented on a month-to-month basis. There’s already a waiting list. But you don’t need to have a studio to use the shops or take classes in 3-D modeling, blacksmithing, or art history.
The organization is home to artists, designers, engineers, hackers, and hobbyists. Startup companies, such as aviation software designer Merlin Labs and laser-cutting designers Black Cat Labs, got their start there.
Many members have day jobs and come to Artisans Asylum to stretch creative muscles. Artist Cinnamon Brulee, who practices yakisugi, a centuries old Japanese technique for scorching wood, is an executive coach.
She joined Artisans Asylum in 2015. “It was transformational in my own mental wellness journey,” she said. Her coaching incorporates flamework.
Viva said the move to Allston will engender more youth programming. “We’re expanding into middle school and high school programs,” he said, “and we’re tinkering with a mini-makers February vacation camp.”
Matisse, the board president, is a wire artist who first came to Artisans Asylum six years ago. She was looking for studio space, and she found much more.
“Pretty soon they needed a leader for the metal shop and I was like, ‘Oh, I could get free membership just to donate my time and learn,’” Matisse said. “I took on that role because all it meant was cleaning up and fixing things when they’re broken, and I had a community of people who I could go to at any time and be like, ‘Hey, this machine broke. Can you teach me how to fix it?’”
Pierson said there are already more plans for growing Artisans Asylum, as Berkeley develops an industrial building on Lincoln Street. “We are committed to giving them another 10,000-plus square feet in our space,” he said.
“We’re thinking it could be gallery and sales space,” he said. “But in a couple of years it might be something different. That’s exciting, too, that we know we have this extra chunk of space down the road.”
Viva sees the spirit of community that fuels makers at Artisans Asylum as something worth spreading. “Our goal is to give back to the community, and be a resource for our neighbors,” he said.
Cate McQuaid can be reached at catemcquaid@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram @cate.mcquaid.