We Are Makers

A magazine for those who want to learn from the stories of the world best makers, craftspeople, and artists.

We Are Makers

Making a mark

Facing forwardsJethro Crabb • It was painting that first caught Jethro Crabb’s creative attention. But after a diversion into technical arts, it was clay – then Madame Tussauds – that came calling. Now a figurative sculptor, he makes busts and realistic life-size figures in wax and bronze, and has a particular affinity for caricature and the idiosyncrasies of the human head.

Donna Collinson • When a handful of Donna Collinson’s social-media videos went viral, demand for the UK-based maker’s unique glass floral creations went stratospheric – and caught the attention of the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. She puts her success as The Glass Florist down to finding her niche and following her heart.

Cambium Lost Arts • Amy Krone had dabbled in basketry before she found ‘the book’. There’s no telling how long it had been on the shelf of that little second-hand bookstore, dusty and unloved. But the moment she opened it, she was gripped. This is the story of how that book changed Amy’s life and started Cambium Lost Arts…

Jason Saunders • Quality and a ‘ just say yes’ attitude are what drive Jason Saunders, metal worker and owner of Wise Fabrication. But his making journey has also been shaped by childhood struggles, grief and mental ill health. Here he shares an honest and intimate account of how his passion has guided him through the bad times to emerge into the good.

Ellyn D’Uva • Driven by her deep love of nature and a desire to slow down, Ellyn D’Uva quit her marketing and events job in 2020 to teach herself woodworking. She’s now a full-time scroll saw artist at Ellynwood, the small business she runs from her home in the Coast Salish territories of British Columbia.

The privilege of trust

Reinventing the gold standard

Jeremy Parker • Meet Jeremy Parker. Traditional pigment and paint maker and demonstrator. His Ballarat-based business, The Alchemical Arts, offers small-batch, handmade colour products of the highest quality, and encourages curiosity about the real history of art.

Rachaeldaisy Dodd • Whether she’s creating a unique quilt, teaching innovative techniques or just watching the cows wander past her window, Rachaeldaisy Dodd is always in search of new creative inspiration. From her home studio in Ballarat, she shared some of her making milestones and imparted the importance of work/life balance for creatives.

Alana Smith • Out of a 16-year hospitality career, Alana Smith picked up some wax and started to carve in 2016. Now a full-time maker, she devotes her creative energy to Cut Off Your Hands Jewellery, where she crafts dramatic, textured ‘beautifully ugly’ pieces in sterling silver that tap into her love of brutalism and harsh textures.

Rare, not forgotten • At the top of Ballarat’s Sovereign Hill sits the Centre for Rare Arts & Forgotten Trades. Its purpose lies in its name: to slow – and maybe one day halt – the diminishing skills that have been lost to mass manufacture. This newly converted centre – which also houses objects in the Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections – has been re-imagined as a purpose-built educational facility for the preservation and passing-on of crafts.

Wootten Workshop Tour

Field Leathers • Fans around the world wear Greg Field’s customer leather jackets, made in his hometown in Fife, Scotland. From its kitchen-table start to a growing luxury fashion business, this is the story of Field Leathers.

Idris Olabode • Ceramic artist Idris Olabode’s approach to transforming clay into something unique and personal means being deeply involved in every stage of the creation process – including sourcing the natural raw material himself. This hands-on...