‘Storytelling runs through everything we do’

Adda Cohn has big plans for Dareshack, a new creative studio in Bristol city centre.

The creative director describes the journey of her business as a constant work in progress, involving sleepless nights, 2am bread baking, multiple lockdowns, squatters and garish paint choices.

“We keep a record of our story because it’s so crazy that we don’t want to forget,” Adda laughs.

She now believes the space may finally be ready, but she’s nowhere near finished yet.

Dareshack – meaning quite literally ‘a place for daring’ – is a self-proclaimed creative studio. Central to the space is the cafe, where Adda meets Bristol24/7 on a bright afternoon, the daylight melting into the roughly painted black walls that line this industrial-looking space.

Dareshack’s unassuming shop front reflects their ‘blank canvas’ approach to the space – photo: Adda / Dareshack

Speciality coffees and teas are brewed here, whilst a fully operational kitchen and studio space, meeting room and gallery all splinter off from the central atrium.

Despite these physical boundaries, the space is fluid, with the intention of enabling ideas to flow across the different areas.

“We really like the immersiveness of shows. Stories can be through a live experience, or digital. We like playing with the form, experimenting and asking why,” Adda explains.

“Storytelling runs through everything we do”.

Ideas are conceived and nurtured through an interdisciplinary approach that fuses hospitality and entertainment.

Dareshack’s journey began a long time before Covid says Adda. Before arriving in Bristol, she and her partner, Gui, both originally from Brazil, lived and worked in London. They owned a small coffee bar from which they ran creative events – but the space was too restrictive for their vision and licences were hard to obtain – something didn’t feel right.

After a year of researching and countless conversations discussing how they could merge their expertise, experience and passion for creating, the pair settled on Bristol.

“Bristol had everything that was important to us. Collaboration is at the heart of Dareshack, that’s one of the reasons why we came to Bristol – because we saw that potential and desire for creative collaborations,” says Adda.

The space has an industrial feel as everything is built by the pair and their team – photo: Adda / Dareshack

During the first two years of living in Bristol, Adda and Gui both worked full-time whilst trying to find premises, fill out planning applications and gain licensing rights. Just as they were about to open, lockdown was announced.

“Everything fell apart,” says Adda. “ We didn’t have any other plans.”

Despite the setback, they decided to steer ahead with their vision.

“Dareshack is the only thing we want to do in our lives. There’s nothing else,” says the creative director.

The area they chose is not a typical gallery space, nor in a typically ‘creative’ area of Bristol. In the commercial heart of the city, and looking out onto a busy high street, Adda is acutely aware Dareshack has to prove itself.

But such a location may act in her favour. Facing out onto Castle Park, a constant stream of people wander from St Nicholas Markets to Cabot via Dareshack.

One of the exciting projects the Dareshack team are launching is the creative dining experience, like a ‘chef’s table’ but through an immersive experience where people will be able to preview the evening menu.

‘Triple Dare’, Dareshack’s specially curated coffee brand is sold in the store – photo: Mia Vines Booth

The couple designed and built everything themselves, from the tables to the bar, to the paint-rolled wallpaper.

Adda adds: “We absolutely love this. This is us. We were talking about this the other day. We don’t have this separation anymore, between what’s Dareshack and what’s us.”

Dareshack’s next major event is on April 29, when Brighton-based musical force, Normanton Street will bring a lyrically focused night of jazz, warm based grooves, and tight rhythmic drums to the space, alongside Bristol-based contemporary jazz and neo-soul seven-piece, Heyouki.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbm3Yl2MOyd/

You can get tickets for the event here: www.headfirstbristol.co.uk

Main photo: Dareshack

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