Armed with cheap rent and wobbly walls, he could sling records to his heart’s content. The inside of the building is beautiful with an ornately detailed ceiling.
But he pays cheap rent because the building is planned to be demolished.
“They told me that I would have to leave there and I started to look around for another building.
“I knew that this building in Lowe Street had been empty for some years, and I knew that Sarah Cleave had used it all with the NOise Vacancy crew.”
For Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, NOise Vacancy commandeers empty buildings for a night, bringing them back to life with art, dance and sound.
Deane had gone along to the event and saw an opportunity.
“I thought this building is pretty cool, I could use this. So when I was looking for something to move to I approached the owner and they said yes.
“It hadn’t been used for a long time and the new owners were going to pull it down at some point, so I said until you do why don’t you just let me pay rates?”
Deane spent a month cleaning the building. There was mould on the walls and the gutters were full of grit.
Deane first came to Gisborne in 1982 when he worked at the local Hi-Fi store, Chris Fenn Sound and Colour.
His love for vinyl goes back to his teenage years when decided to call up a radio station.
“I won my first record on radio when I was 14 years old. I remember it being Tom Jones, the Green, Green Grass Of Home.”
Now his record collection numbers in the vicinity of 1000, although he hasn’t counted them all.
Once Deane found out he had to move from his second location on Childers Road and had found the building on Lowe Street, he decided even with the cheap rent he wanted to get some help.
He did not have a quick way to get rich in a small town — or even pay the bills.
“Selling records in Gisborne is really a ‘hiding to nothing’ because of the small population here there are not many record collectors.
“After four years I’m still not selling the volume where anyone sensible would have a business, I just keep doing it because I can.”
Taking over such a large building with overheads to cover, Deane had an idea.
“It just seemed ridiculous, what am I going to use all this space for?”
The building has multiple rooms, offices, a kitchen and a small outside area.
Katie Clinnick, a seamstress and recycled fashion designer, was happy to join Deane. She had shared space with him before.
“Then it got known we had some empty rooms and people started asking me if they could have a space,” he said.
Now the building is full of people from all walks of life and professions.
Luke Bradley runs player management and rugby camps in New Zealand and Japan. Ivonne Caceres, Cleo Thorpe-Ngata and Merle Walker create art.
Katie the seamstress adds colour with her clothes and a wonderful smile to the offices.
She studied for a diploma in fashion at EIT and now creates new garments from old materials.
“The inspiration was from how much textile goes into waste and becomes landfill,” said Katie.
“I’m hoping to educate people on the importance of slow fashion. So part of my designs I want to add visible mending into them, so I’m making the repairs visible as well.”
Katie said having an affordable space on Lowe Street was critical to her work.
“Having the cheap space has given me an area to work where I didn’t before. I don’t have the space at home.”
She said finding spaces to work out of is tough because of the high rents.
“There need to be more spaces like this where people can afford to start up.”
But not everyone is new to the game.
Dylan Hayley is a graphic designer from the United States who has created huge numbers of websites and film posters, and everything in between. He’s said he’s a walking “one-stop-shop” for anything design.
“I’m mostly still working for people back home, but I’ve picked up a few Gizzy clients.”
Dylan said the co-working space was a great chance to make connections and build community.
“It’s nice to be able to get out of the house. I was working from home for a long time. Everyone here is working for themselves so it’s nice for us to be able to take a break and wander into each other’s rooms and have a yarn.”
Another established player is Sarah Cleave and her cohort from Gizzy Local — Gisborne’s community-enabling, event-notifying website.
Sarah is setting up Gizzy Local’s first-ever headquarters in the long pink room at the rear of the building.
In the past the room has been used for live music, spoken word and dance.
“We’re excited about having a physical space where we can offer what we’ve set out online — a safe space for our community to express itself,” said editor Sarah Cleave. She has so far done the job from home.
“The in-real-life version of that has always been the goal, so it’s exciting to be there and thanks to the generosity and enabling attitudes of Deane and our landlords we’re getting to do this.”
There’s only one hitch: The beauty of the model relies on cheap rent, so once it is time for the building to be demolished or refurbished, Deane and all the others are going to need another location. Until then, everyone is beavering away selling records, creating, musing and dreaming.
But if anyone has an empty building that needs life, music, artists and energy — feel free to get in touch.
