Sakura Studio Gallery works collaboratively to bring the work of independent artists to customers in a rural setting
Stonham Aspal-based startup Sakura Studio Gallery – a part of the rural shopping village at Stonham Barns Park – has been named a winner of one of the East of England StartUp Awards.
The UK StartUp Awards was launched to recognise the booming start-up scene across the UK which has accelerated over the last few years with over 900,000 new businesses founded in the UK in 2023, a 12% increase from the year before.
Over 900 businesses have been shortlisted for this year’s UK StartUp Awards and the contribution of these firms – all of which were started in the last three years – is significant, having created nearly 6,000 new jobs since they were established and generating annual sales of £480 million.
Sakura Studio Gallery is an art space dedicated to showcasing independent artists and providing a space for visitors to try out and experiment with their own creativity with the brand-new workshops on offer in the expanded studio space. Founded by Albany Tripp in February 2023, the business has won the Creative StartUp of the Year Award in East of England.
Winners are listed here https://startupawards.uk/2024-east-of-england/
Albany, founder of Sakura Studio Gallery, who lives in Diss, said: “I can’t express how grateful I am to be able to have this art space where I am able to create and share my love for art, support and exhibit other artists and share our creative passions with workshops while raising my young son and his soon to come little sibling.’
‘I am absolutely blown away by the amount of support my little art space has received. I still can’t quite believe we won Regional Creative StartUp of the Year in the East of England!’
‘I’m so grateful to our visitors, our artists, and to everyone at Stonham Barns Park for their incredible support during the last 15 months since I first opened Sakura Studio Gallery. Never could I have imagined winning. I was surprised just to be shortlisted!’
‘Thank you to StartUp Awards, to everyone supporting my business, our local artists and creators, and to my family and partner who have stood by my side and encouraged me to pursue my art’.
Supported nationally by Starling Bank, Airwallex, Chime Agency, Development Bank of Wales, EvaBuild, ForrestBrown, GiftRound, GS1 UK, Join Talent, OVHcloud, Project Simply, ScoreApp, SFC Capital and Welsh Government, Harriet Rees, CIO at Starling Bank says, ‘Turning an idea into a successful business takes a lot of courage and dedication. Congratulations to Sakura Studio Gallery on winning their category in the East of England and making it to this year’s UK national final. Start-ups need certainty to plan ahead. It’s great to see so many thrive, especially in these challenging economic times.’
Nearly 70,000 new firms were created in the East of England in 2023 and according to Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, creator of the awards, this demonstrates the growing importance of entrepreneurs to the regional economy. He is also excited that the awards are, yet again, recognising the best new firms from Cambridge to East Anglia to Essex and celebrating the amazing entrepreneurial talent from every corner of the region.
He said: “Start-ups are the life of any economy and that is especially true in the East of England where those new businesses are contributing to job creation, innovation, and prosperity across the whole of this entrepreneurial region. It’s been an honour and a pleasure to read the stories of those founders who have spotted the opportunity and taken the risk to launch their own venture. All of the winners have demonstrated that they deserve to win their categories and I’m looking forward to having the ‘best of the best’ from the East of England competing at the UK final later this year.’
As a regional winner in their category, Sakura Studio Gallery will now progress to the UK Startup Awards final being held at Ideas Fest on September 12th, dubbed ‘the Glastonbury for Entrepreneurs’
