In Community | By Valerie Howes | August 4, 2021
New: Workshops Tours and Retail Space
If you love the puppy table, daybreak basket, or quilt in your room, you can take a little piece of Fogo Island home, thanks to our sister social business, Fogo Island Workshops. At the Workshops, Fogo Island makers create wood and textile pieces to order for guests and design lovers from around the world. They customize colours, dimensions, or fabrics, so your new heirloom piece works perfectly in your home or business. They will then ship these pieces (which were all designed collaboratively by international designers and local craftspeople) to you anywhere.
Fogo Island's new retail space
In July, Fogo Island Workshops opened a retail space. It's in the newly restored Loyal Orange Lodge. You can't miss this striking heritage building: It's painted the colour of the sun, with red trim, and sits at the foot of the road path to the Inn.
You can go there to see the building's distinctive architectural features and learn about its storied past. Or step inside to browse the furniture, textiles, and small wooden objects on display. You'll also find books and handmade items created exclusively for the store, by independent local makers. And there will be opportunities to meet Fogo Island craftspeople.
Summer hours for the Orange Lodge are 11am-4pm daily. (Hours of operation will change seasonally so please check with the Inn team for opening hours or to make an appointment.) The store signals it’s open by hanging a colourful handmade quilt on the line (when the weather is dry).
Workshops Tours
Also new: You can go see the Workshops team building and finishing pieces in their workshop, across the road from the Orange Lodge. At the Society of United Fishermen (SUF) Hall, you can talk with our production team. Learn all about our furniture-making social business and collaborative design process. Find out what it means to the team to be keeping Fogo Island's heritage crafts alive.
Free guided tours are running at 10:30am, from Monday to Friday, throughout the summer. (Ask at the Inn team about the tour schedule in the quieter seasons). Meet outside the front door of the S.U.F. Hall, on the red deck. (If it's raining, just come inside and wait at the front-door area).
Have a great time meeting our makers!
