How does making contribute to young peoples wellbeing?A contemporary craft project supporting vulnerable and homeless young people in Birmingham.

Making My Home

Making My Home was a creative project, initiated by Craftspace, working with young people from St Basils Supported Accommodation and furniture designer Nessa Doran OReilly from Furniture Magpies.

Over a six week period working together (supported by surface design graduate Daniel Beckford and art and design student Emily Clark) they explored how to upcycle furniture. Sessions included master classes on how to make a coat hook from an old chair leg and spindles, how to turn a drawer into a wheeled storage box and how to create a lampshade from wool and a discarded frame.

Using furniture from charity shops and furniture stores the young people brought new life to discarded objects and created new pieces for their homes.

Young people also had the opportunity to visit the Marvellous Machines exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

As an organisation, Craftspace is interested in how making can contribute to young peoples wellbeing. Making My Home created opportunities for learning new skills, open dialogue, understanding, friendship and inclusion to promote positive wellbeing, improved mental health and greater employability skills. A number of the young people also worked with artist Nicola Paton to complete their bronze arts award.

As part of Craftspaces ongoing exploration into creative documentation and evaluation, illustrator Maeve Clancy illustrated the project and produced a set of downloadable How To instructions for other young people to follow.

Making My HomeHow does making contribute to young peoples wellbeing?A contemporary craft project supporting homeless young people in Birmingham.

Thank you to all the staff and young people who have participated in the project:Darwin, Kelly, Carla, Jace, Emily, Colin, Adele, Martin, Khari, William, Candice, Charlotte, Katie, Stewart, Michael, Toniel, Kuribel, Klein, Laura, Hasib, Ricardo, Rob, Abigail Zoe and Bailey-Mae.

makingmyhomeproject.wordpress.com#makingmyhome @craftspaceyouthcraftspace.co.uk/makingmyhome

This project has been funded by Birmingham City Council and supported by Gemma Ferarti from St Basils and Tina Elcock BSMHFT 16+ Care Leavers Team.

Thank you to Six Eight Kafe for supporting our celebration event.