Few cities in the UK boast the kind of textile heritage Manchester has. The great Cottonopolis was built on fabrics, and this is visible in some of the region’s grandest buildings, often originally constructed as ornate good warehouses to store produce, not to mention landmark apartments built into repurposed mills. While times have certainly changed, you’ll still find a good number of independent clothing manufacturers operating, from bespoke tailoring to staff workwear. Then there’s T&T Craft Studio, which prefers to let the public do the weaving — so to speak — by offering them a chance to create their own handmade items.
Situated close to Manchester Oxford Road Station, itself considered a masterpiece of modernity, T&T is led by a passionate and highly creative group of designers and manufacturers, and was established by graduates of the University of Manchester’s highly respected Fashion Management programme. Obsessed with making things by hand, learning new skills in the process, and influenced by one of the founder’s roots in a Chinese city known for its own textile industry, when the team realised how difficult it was to find unique one-off woollen rugs, rather than mass produced fixed patterns from vast factory floors, they set about trying to put some individuality back into the practice.
Hence what we find today — Manchester’s acclaimed tufting workshop, T&T Craft Studio. An indoor activity venue that allows visitors to design and produce their own rugs, canvas bags, coasters, mirrors, and plenty more, participants can decide on the size, style, and design, and are then guided through the process from start to finish by qualified (and, thankfully, very patient) tutors. As such satisfaction is guaranteed. Ideal for anything from a romantic date to a family day out, birthday party to team-building, it’s up there with the most unique offerings in town.