The medieval guild should not be viewed as an effective model. It ensured some degree of standardized quality of service and goods, but they also functioned to artificially inflate the price of labor by constricting supply. They we're discriminatory in who was allowed to join. A peasant couldn't just decide to become a watchmaker. An apprentice's family often had to pay to have their child educated. Many scholars have speculated that guilds reduced overall productivity.

That said, the spaces described in the article are not like this. They seem to basically be hackerspaces for artists.