Chair City Legacy MakerSpace

Chair City Legacy Makerspace is a non-profit dedicated to preserving the legacy of craftsmanship in Gardner, MA by creating an intergenerational community of makers.

By creating a space for woodworking and other crafts we aim to bring together the energy of locals of all ages and the knowledge of retired furniture workers and other skilled craftsman to form an intergenerational maker space. We believe that meaningful work is the backbone of a community's dignity, and that can be found by revaluing the skills of the area's once thriving industry.

The Chair City Legacy Makerspace is designed to address specific issues in the community of Gardner that have developed due to de-industrialization.

• Promote craftsmanship in all its most tangible and intangible expressions.
• Promote the concept of stewardship of the community.
• Provide a tangible place for the re-connection of inter-generational relationships between former workers and young people seeking tangible work skills broken by de-industrialization.
• Address the social deprivation of citizens and support businesses that are synonymous with the City of Gardner. Social issues identified may include suicide, substance abuse, loneliness.
• Develop a successful mixed-use property that in turn works to re-develop the City of Gardnerwith working class people at the heart of that redevelopment.