T H EC H O C O L A T EF A C T O R Y

F I N B A RL E N A H A N

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In 1902 a large scale factory named ‘The Elizabeth Shaw’ was built in Bristol’s Easton with the soul purpose of manufacturing chocolate and other confectionary treats. The company made a large variety of sweet snacks such as Packer’s chocolate bars, Jolly Roger pastilles, chocolate liqueurs and after dinner mints. The building itself spread over 3 large warehouses each between 4 and 6 floors tall covering an area of 330,000 square feet. The factory was a huge suc-cess and profited greatly from its produce throughout the early years of the 20th century. However as the years went on the factory’s fortunes started to sub-side being sold and bought up by a num-ber of new owners throughout the cen-tury . This carried on into the start of the 21st century when it was finally de-cided in 2006 that the after 105 years the factory would in fact be closing.

Plans to renovate the factory, building offices and a community centre were announced to the public in early 2008 and were set to begin later that year. However it seems that these were empty promises as the build-ing remains practically untouched since it’s closure. I say practically as rather than be-ing renovated it has become a haven for exploration. The space inside the building is ginormous and it seems each door opened leads to another new exciting area of what was once a fully working factory. The damage that 6 disused years has caused though is quite phenomenal. The rot, rust and decay evident throughout the build-ing is fittingly representative of the com-pany’s financial decline. What was once a busy, prosperous work place is now neglected, only seen by a select few will-ing to venture inside the dark walls.

C H A P T E R . O N E

EXPLORE & DISCOVER

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GETTING IN : The way to get in to the building isn’t easy and took a while to discover. It involves climbing a wall, walking around the side of the building, pulling open a grate to climb through a window, walking down a corridor in an outhouse of the main building and then finally climbing through a smaller window into the main courtyard.

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NEGLECTED : Rusting machinery onced used for mass confectonary production can be seen all over the building, unused and forgotten.

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MUSEUM : One of the most fascinating explorational aspects of the building is the vast amounts of discarded documentation and paper-work that litters the upstairs rooms. Anything from sweet packet labels to receipts for large orders of cocoa powder dating back as early as the 1940’s have just been left on the shelves. The way everything has just been left gives the feel that the building has become a museum.

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CHOCOLATE : Empty chocolate moulding trays collect dust in a top floor room. It seems as if one day all the workers just stopped what they were doing, walked out the building and left all their equiptment right where it was.

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A CREATIVE PLAYGROUND

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As the project developed I realised the factory’s potential is far greater than just exploration. Huge empty spaces, unlimited discarded resources and infinite areas of plain wall are ideal for creating an exhib-iting art work. The building has become a playground for creativity and it’s options seem limitless. Working with a variety of artist, photographers and designers the factory has turned itself into a unknown, illegitimate art studio and gallery. The art-work produced inside the factory is pro-duced without the knowledge or consent of whoever owns the space and The sad truth is that if permission was sought af-ter it would probably be turned down. This doesn’t seem right as the work cre-ated within the derelict space is without doubt the most productive thing that has happened since it’s closure in 2006.

This chapter shows the creative capabilities of the building through the work of myself and friend and artist Will Tilzey. The work shown is just a small example of what is be-ing produced in the factory but I believe it documents a variety of mediums and out-comes and is representative of the factory and it’s qualities. A common theme that runs through the majority of the work produced is that of past glory and a sense of decline and decay. This reflects the fortune of the factory and is important as it is the reason why we as artists are able to use the space.

Many artists, covering a large range of practices continue to use the space every day and I hope this chapter can help to encourage others to use dif-ferent disused spaces in a similar way.

C H A P T E R . T W O

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BOLD & BEAUTIFUL : Lettering inspired by early 20th century confectionary advertisement. Bold letter structures often with large drop shadows. This is a style lost in recent advertisement, reminiscent of an era when the Elizabeth Shaw Chocolate Factory would have been booming. The letters were the painted onto the walls of the factory as a tribute to it’s former glory.

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SUGARSUGAR

SUGAR SUGAR

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POSTERS : Posters designed using text and images and then put back into situation during following visit to the factory. The concept behind the posters was to highlight the contrast between the past and present reasons for the factory’s use. The word SUGAR is acknowledging the original purpose of the building and the images show the new found motive of exploration. The posters were then pasted onto the walls of the factory in the places where the original photos were taken. This is to remind future explorers of the buildings initial potential.

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WILL TILZEY : A fine artist who practices mostly in sculpture. His work in the factory uses materials only found within the building. The pieces are assembled and photographed inside the space and are a brilliant example of the chocolate factory’s infinite potential.

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WILL TILZEYUntitled, 2012

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DESIGNING A TYPEFACE

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As the project developed and my pile of 35mm pho-tographs from the factory continued to increase in size I decided I wanted to do something with all of the unused images. After obsessively looking through them I began to notice letter forms emerging from the details in the photographs. The contrast between the architectural elements of the buildings structure and the decay brought about through years of ne-glect had started to create a wonderful bond. Straight legged roof enforcements worked brilliantly as lines for letter structures and then areas where parts of a wall or roof had rotted away served as a perfect way to make the letters unique and interesting. When this connection began to work together so well, the typeface really flourished. The contrasts of old & new, structure & corrosion truly became evident in the typeface which is representative of the entire project.

The letters were sketched onto tracing paper lay-ered over blown up images. The sketches were then scanned into a computer and digitaly reproduced.

DEVELOPMENT : The proccess behind the production of the letter A once it entered the computer.

A

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FACTORY : A typeface symbolic of change. Former glory and structural prowess contrasted with decay and undeniable sense of neglect.

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Special thanks to Will Tilzey, Maxwell Ball & Max Ferguson.

Follow the project at:tcf-a-creative-playground.tumblr.com

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Finbar Lenahan 2012