Our Mission
Our mission is
to forget “normal” and embrace different and better.
Providing affordable retail, workshop and workspace to our local Creatives, taking some of the stress out of finding a way to market. Providing a safe networking, meeting, learning and creative space for the greater good of our Creative Community.
Hosting Creative workshops that will benefit wellbeing and creativity – the benefits of creativity to mental health are well documented.
Boosting the local economy by encouraging people to shop locally, highlighting our curated selection of unique handcrafted gifts and homeware.
I'm Catherine McAtier
Embroidery & Textile Artist
& Founder of WHAT IF Paisley Ltd
As a Creative I know how difficult it can be to find affordable retail, workshop and working space. I’ll go with the cliché “I’ve been creative all my life.” Because it’s true. From an early age I’d be spending my pocket money on art materials and could regularly be found drawing or making stuff with plasticine or fabric. I was multi-passionate from the beginning.
A little background...
Throughout my working life I have taken on many roles, regularly with a creative side hustle or just spending my spare time studying creative subjects. I knew deep down that corporate life was not for me and would burn out on a regular basis.
In hindsight I can see that each time I burnt out I’d come back to creativity. I was not meant to live a “normal” life compartmentalised into brackets of work, home, family, social life, spiritual life.
I was meant to live a Creative Life, a life designed by me and for me. When I realised that I could do just that I took the leap from cubicle life and went all in on the Creativity.
In 2020 the world got really quiet, giving space to think and time to look at options. The space on Moss Street became available, a space I knew well, and I saw the potential for my Creative Life to go in the direction I’d always wanted it to. To run a Creative Abundance Centre.
A space with affordable retail, workshop and working space for creatives. A testing ground for makers to sell their pieces and grow their visibility. And a space for Creative Hobbyists to sell the work that they love, covering the costs of their growing supplies. Space for a Unique Gift shop selling handcrafted pieces made locally. And a space for Creatives to come together to Network and to attend workshops/coaching sessions to help them shape their businesses and make the most of their creativity. Workshops without the scary business speak and judgemental jargon – Creative Business Workshops for Creatives.And so, WHAT IF Paisley Ltd was born. One of the many good things to come out of 2020. We have a unique shop filled with locally handcrafted gifts and homewares created by those who have joined our Maker Membership.
The workshop and coaching side of things has been a little slower in taking off, due, in part, to my being diagnosed with cancer in 2022. I am now all clear and ready to make WHAT IF Paisley Ltd into what it was always meant to be.
I hope you can join us on the journey.
Catherine
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