A little about Gordon and Dolores......

Red door Studios was founded in 2011 by Gordon Haskins and Dolores Maisonneuve.

Dolores was the first to convert the once bakery turned laboratory glassware factory into the working art studios and event space that we know it as today. As this newspaper clipping states, Dolores recognised the lack of resources in this area for artists considering the economic crisis going on throughout the city meaning that artists could no longer afford spaces in Hackney. As we know now, this issue has only accelerated and we are happy to still be able to provide affordable spaces for artists today as Dolores intended.

As Stephen Timms writes in this article, there was widespread disappointment when an art gallery on Rancliffe closed down some decades previously. This shows how rare a space for the arts was in this area and Dolores also opened up the space to host art exhibitions and performances so that East Ham could enjoy a well-deserved injection of arts culture on their doorstep. We still run the space with this ethos in mind which was developed further by Liz Clough and is now continued by Freya Harwood Bond who aims to bring a diverse programme of artists, musicians and performers to the space.

Dolores is still very vocal in her support for Red Door from a distance as she now lives in Canada and we constantly have visitors here mentioning her and telling us about their first visit to the space years previously when Dolores was here so she is always present in spirit in the building!

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