Press Release

Summer Open Studios at Hotel Elephant

A week of celebrations of arts, culture and creative enterprise

Monday 4th June: Creative Business Meet Up – MYO tell their story

Wednesday 6th June: Camberwell Drawing Exhibition 

Friday 8th June: Sidecar Late’s: Djs & Music till late at Sidecar 

Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th June: Open studios & members showcase 

Entry Free: booking required for meet up event 

Hotel Elephant is excited to invite you to celebrate Summer at Spare Street – Southwark’s newest street dedicated to Creative Enterprise. Grab an ice-cold Craft Cider and join us for a whole week of events celebrating arts, culture and creative enterprise – culminating in our Summer Open studios and members showcase!

Kicking off the week (Monday 4th June) with a Creative Entrepreneur’s meet up, we have invited Sam and Diana, co-creators of M.Y.O ('Make Your Own') to share their startup story. They quit their business and finance day jobs so they could bring a creative outlet to the world. They'll run through how and why they got started, talk about lessons learned, whilst providing some tools and tips to help you on your startup journey. They'll stay around to answer any questions also. 

This meet up event is free to attend and open to all people in the creative world of business - whether a solopreneur making products at their dining room table or those working with technology to disrupt the creative landscape. 

For one night only, (Wednesday 6th June) students from Camberwell College of Arts BA Drawing, Illustration and Sculpture courses will be exhibiting work made during anatomical drawing sessions run at the Gordon Museum of Pathology based at Guy's Hospital. Run with the museum's artist in residence Eleanor Crook, students have had the chance to explore and record from the UK’s largest medical museum and from the King's Dissecting Room.

Friday 8th June the bar is open late for Sidecar Lates with Music and Djs till late with £5 cocktails, craft cider and beer. 

On Saturday & Sunday come and meet the makers at our open studios. Get a glimpse inside the hive of creativity which is our spare street studios, with artists and makers from photographers, print makers and paintings to costume designers and puppet makers. Our café space will also host work from our members along with stalls selling prints, glitter butts and hats – to name a few!

Hotel Elephant is pleased to be partnering again this year with our friends and neighbors at the Pullens Yards, whose opens Summer Open studios will be taking place over the same weekend. Just 5 minutes’ walk from Spare Street, the historic Pullens Yards are home to over 50 studios, whose Open Studios are a regular fixture in our summer calendar. 

Throughout the weekend, our café & bar will be open serving specialty coffee, all day brunch, hearty toasted sourdough sandwiches and doughnuts and pastries! Our sourdough bread is supplied by St John’s bakery on Maltby Street and coffee beans are sourced from the Gentlemen Barista’s on Union Street. We will also be offering a wide selection of craft cider, beer, and cocktails! 

All events are free entry, RSVP required for Monday’s meet up, please see our website for details and profiles of the artists and makers which will be exhibiting. 

Notes to Editors

1. More Information: 

High resolution images are available, please contact Emily at emily@hotelelephant.co.uk with 

questions you may have. Please use Summer ‘Open Studios _ Press Enquires’ as subject line. 

2. Address: 

1-5 Spare Street, SE17 3EP

Website: www.hotelelephant.co.uk

Public Enquiries: Info@hotelelephant.co.uk

Hotel Elephant Café & Bar is open daily:

8am – 6pm Mon. – Thurs & till 11pm on Fridays. 

9am – 6pm Sat. & Sun

Spare Street runs between Hampton Street & Steedman Street, we are just 5

minutes from the Elephant & Castle tube station. 

3. About Hotel Elephant: 

Hotel Elephant was established in 2009 as a not for profit company to provide space for arts and culture in Southwark. Since then Hotel Elephant has provided over 57,000 square foot of space across 6 'meanwhile' use property in the Elephant and Castle. Spare Street is a new street dedicated to Creative Enterprise in Southwark comprising of workspace and a public space across 

five railways arches. Here, Hotel Elephant provides workspace for Emerging Artists and Creative Entrepreneurs including recent graduates, local micro business and growing creative businesses. Spare Street has been named by Hotel Elephant after the artist Austin Osman Spare who lived, worked and exhibited in the area from the early 1900’s until his death in 1956. Hotel Elephant has secured funding for the project from Mayor of London through the London Regeneration Fund and from Southwark Council’s Arts Grant fund and High Streets Challenge. 

4. About M.Y.O

https://www.myo.place

M.Y.O is an arts and crafts studio for adults, think of it as ‘an art gym for your creative muscles’, where no experience is required and you can enjoy a vast range of workshops from ceramic painting, t-shirt design and calligraphy to lino printing. They have creative studios in Borough and Peckham Levels, were listed in the Evening Standard as one of the best places to get creative over Christmas and were recently interviewed for Business Insider."

5. About Pullens Yards

http://pullensopen.org

Pullens Yards were purpose-built for designer-makers in the late 1880s. The studios have housed craftspeople, working with their hands, for a hundred and twenty years. Unsurprisingly, over this length of time, what most of the crafts-people produce has evolved: at one time the Yards boasted lace makers, fan makers and cabinet makers; who have been replaced by today’s filmmakers, jewellers and artist potters. A few crafts have stayed, furniture designers and letterpress printers are here now, just as in the days of Queen Victoria.

Watch this space as we release blog posts spotlighting exhibiting artists over the next couple of weeks !