The Grafton Quarter is home to a fantastic mix of local, community run businesses, charity organisations and great value retailers. Located at the South of George Street, you can enjoy a great sandwich, shop for homewares, get a great hair cut, bag a bargain and much, much more.

#BrightFutures

#BrightFutures is an exciting community arts project in Altrincham’s Grafton Quarter, featuring three newly commissioned pieces of art that reflect the vibrancy of the town that we know and love as well as its optimitic future plans.

The particpatory arts project has enlisted the help of doodle maps illustrator Dave Draws, who will be working with four local primary schools to create a futuristic map of the town centre, which will includes the children’s thoughts and hopes for the future of the place where they live.
The initiative will also feature work by local artist, Caroline Dowsett, who will create two large scale pieces on Stamford New Road and George Street. Towering over 7m high, the iconic designs hope to bring joy and vitality into the everyday lives of local residents, workers and visitors. The colours and shapes in Caroline’s represent the bright future of the town centre.

BrightFutures is part of a number of public realm improvements by Tafford Council to enhance the look and feel of the town centre.

Meet the Artists

Caroline Dowsett
Caroline is a Manchester-based artist, painter and maker. In her studio she creates pieces from shapes, colour and lines. Her work is full of movement and is inspired by feels, sounds, words and the everyday.

Caroline works with a variety of colourful palettes, in a bold, playful approach, alongside fluid shapes and words to convey messages and joy.

She has created a diverse body of works over the years in her recognisable style, from murals to textiles, stationary to packaging! Her past clients include; Uniqlo, Absolut Vodka, Little Greene Paint and Fred Aldous.
Dave Draws
Dave Draws is a freelance illustrator, mural artist and serial map doodler originally from Chesterfield but living in Manchester.

Dave works from AWOL Studios, Ancoats, but has traveled across Europe, Hong Kong and the US for his large scale wall murals. Dave’s trademark is his doodle maps that combine his unique doodle style with cartoonish illustrations creating a map of a city, using only his trusted Posca pens.