Create Escape Studio moves from Danbury to New Milford because ‘it’s the best fit’

The past two years the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many business owners to make some tough decisions when it comes to their operation and Create Escape Studio was not immune to the impact.

Heather Dann opened Create Escape Studio in December 2018 in Danbury. The studio is run by Dann and her mother Robin Dann, who serves as the studio manager, marketing manager and branding manager.

The goal for them was to provide walk-in creative activities as well as a party venue space. Event services were versatile with adult and teen paint nights, pottery technique classes and wheel throwing classes. There were also themed events such as “Harry pottery” nights or “potty-mouth paint” nights. They also hosted kids camps and birthday parties.

During their time in Danbury they held monthly kids classes for painting, clay hand building with clay, mosaics and fused glass.

Then, COVID-19 came to Connecticut.

“Unfortunately, when COVID hit we had to shut down since we were not an essential business,” Heather Dann said. “We offered to-go kits for pottery and canvas. Unfortunately, as a new business, it was not as successful as we had hoped. Like many businesses we struggled to stay above water during the pandemic.”

Recently, at the end of the lease in their Danbury location, Heather Dann and Robin Dann, who both reside in New Milford, made the decision to move the operation closer to home.

“We initially planned to go mobile,” Heather Dann said. “We would just advertise for offsite events and to-go kits and move the studio into our home. But in a last minute search we found a beautiful space in the historic Bleachery building on 143 West Street in New Milford. It overlooks the Housatonic River.

“Though our new studio space is smaller than our previous space, we found that we’re still able offer a wide variety of our walk-in activities like paint your own pottery, clay hand building, fused glass and mosaics, as well as canvas painting and private wheel throwing classes.”

Create Escape Studio had its New Milford grand opening on March 5 and the Dann’s were pleased with the turnout. Dann said Create Escape Studio currently has limited hours since they are looking to see what the community wants by appointment Monday-Friday and with walk-in hours 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

As they continue to restart their business in their new location, they are still working with a two-person staff of Heather Dann and her mother Robin.

“Our hope is that as things pick up, we can bring in additional staff to help our growing business,” Heather Dann said. “We are very excited to be in New Milford. We felt this was the best fit for our studio since we’ve lived in New Milford for over 20 years.

“We know that it has a well-loved and tight community base. We hope to serve the community by offering a fun and relaxing place for all ages to come create. We also offer fundraising opportunities for schools, we work with senior centers, troop outings, as well as other offsite community projects in addition to our on-site studio offerings.“

For more information you can go to the website at https://www.createescapestudio.com/.

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