ACME Carpenters Road Studios

Excerpt from my memoir:

Acme Carpenters Road Studios, Stratford, East London

"In 1989, after my lease at Stratford Workshops expired, I moved to a large Acme studio complex in East London on the site of an old Yardley's perfume factory. Carpenters Road Studios was the largest studio block in Europe with 140 studios on site. It was an opportunity to meet and interact with a wide range of artists so I was very excited about joining the group. Several floors of the old factory had been converted into studios; nearly 500 artists worked there between 1985 and 2001, including Rachel Whiteread, Fiona Rae and Grayson Perry.

At first I rented one of the starter studios on the ground floor which was a large room sub-divided into six, partitioned off from each other, yet still somewhat open plan. My studio had a skylight, whilst some of the adjoining studios had no natural light at all. I worked there for four years before moving to a bigger studio in the same development when I was finally able to afford more space."

Excerpt from 'Art, Life and Everything' (unpublished memoir) by Julie Umerle, edited by Anna McNay.

Copyright © Julie Umerle