Edmonton designer Nicole Campre is moving Workhall, her boutique and studio, into the historic McLeod Building on 100th Street to be closer to the city’s major hotels.
The move from 104th Street will allow the popular designer to expand her downtown store as well as set up an in-house production studio to manufacture small runs of locally designed garments, and hold workshops.
“The McLeod Building is one of Edmonton’s most beautiful and historic buildings,” Campre said Monday before an evening cocktail party officially launched the new store. “It has been my dream location for Workhall since the very beginning.”
A hub for local fashion designs, Workhall was founded by Campre in 2013 as a collaborative workspace in the Saddlery Building on 104th Street, just north of Jasper Avenue. Campre’s designs won national exposure that year when she qualified as a finalist in Toronto’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. She immediately set to work to find a work space and retail space where local designers could pool their resources and creative energy.
“It was important for me to be in the core,” she said of Workhall’s first home on 104th Street. “Edmonton’s downtown is growing into a vibrant and dynamic community and I wanted Workhall to be a part of it.”
Within a year, Campre opened a second Workhall location on Whyte Avenue, near 105th Street, and the downtown boutique expanded from the fourth floor to street level. In 2014, Campre began to redefine Workhall as its own independent label.
“With our own brand, we aim to showcase Edmonton design and serve as an alternative to fast fashion and the mall. We want to prove that local design can compete on a global stage.”
Campre is hanging on to the 104th Street location, despite Workhall’s move. “We’re not closing it — we’ve got another project planned there for the holidays.”
Workhall in the McLeod will include a production studio that will also serve as a community fashion resource. Campre and her team plan to use the space to develop an incubator mentorship program for aspiring designers as well as run workshops and classes there.
The workshops will be open to the public and offer a hands-on opportunity to design and sew. “Participants will walk away with a garment and an experience they’ve never had. We’re really excited to share our process.”
Find out more about the mentorship program and the workshops at workhallstudio.com.
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