National Maker Directory

I am a designer maker working in porcelain and bone china, and am fascinated by the process and opportunities that slip casting ceramics offers. I enjoy designing highly functional decorative ware for the home, and have particular interest in creating moulds using a lathe. I rely on process and trend forecasting to influence my own style, creating unique and imaginative collections of ceramics that can be styled into the home complementing the environment around it. Function, such as whether a beautifully designed spout of a teapot or lip of a cup pours correctly, is an important factor that is also involved in my design process.

Holly describes herself as an Art Jeweller, crafting pieces of delicate and detailed wearable art, celebrating the curious attraction we have to plants, places and the natural world. Encompassing ideas from outside the realm of jewellery, her work draws from illustration, great painters such as Monet and Klimt, and also from old dioramic books. Working in a mixture of copper, silver & resins, Holly combines traditional skills with modern making techniques, to develop innovative and unusual collections of work. Drawing and painting are integral parts of her creative process, so much so that she has developed exciting ways to incorporate them into some of her final collections. Holly studied in the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter at the School of Jewellery, and produces beautiful works from her little garden workshop in the Cotswolds.

The South West’s leading contemporary milliner, Holly Young has fast become the go-to girl when it comes to expertly crafted and classically beautiful millinery and accessories. Holly specializes in bespoke bridal and occasion wear hats, but also has ready-to-wear collections available to buy or hire.

Holly studied Costume Design for the Performing Arts at the London College of Fashion in 2003-06 and has worked for both Philip Treacy and Jane Taylor in London. You can rest assured that when wearing a Holly Young accessory you will feel truly fabulous. Want to make your own hat? Holly runs creative hen party workshops, weekend courses and private tuition too.

I am a contemporary maker creating freeform crochet and fibre art wearable necklace and collar pieces using fine textiles with silk, merino, steel fibres and yarns. Inspired by natural forms, botanics, nature, wild flowers and anything colourful and architectural.

I’m a self taught maker in wood: working as a farmer in beautiful mid-Wales, trees & woodlands had always intrigued me as an integral part of nature, and with an abundance of windblown trees around me, it was a natural progression to purchase a lathe and attempt to honour the spirit of the tree by creating a piece that displayed its beauty. That philosophy has stayed with me from day one. I have a variety of pieces, ranging from solid burr oak coffee tables, to bowls, decorative platters, vases, sculptural forms/pieces etc. I often like to incorporate different techniques into my work, such as fuming, bleaching and scorching the wood. I also like to add materials such as leather cord, metal, nails & paint techniques into my work. I take inspiration mainly from nature, and respect and admire the work of many fellow makers.

I am an Artist and maker. I use my sewing machine the way a painter uses a brush. Each line is guided by my hand. I create small 2 and 3 dimensional pieces in thread. Each piece is unique. They are poetic moments, a visual form of Haiku. Dream like images, contemplative, quiet, devoid of detail, suggestive of a narrative. I studied sculpture and Fine Art at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen and have a BA (Hons) and a MA Fine Art. My subject is the idea of North. My work is influenced by the wilder places, by poetry and prose. I work from my small studio within the beautiful Cairngorm National Park in the Scottish Highlands. Unique embroidered artworks from £25.

I work full time handcrafting statement jewellery from my makeshift studio in Devon. Obsessed with fashion, music and art, my work is fundamentally inspired by street culture, graffiti and skateboarding.

Graduating with a Fashion & Textiles degree from University in Bristol in the 90’s, I started out designing streetwear and became connected to the cities reinventing underground music and art scenes. My addiction to street culture is at the heart of everything I do, so I choose to work with traditional graffiti techniques, spray paint, paint markers and acrylics, while using materials more commonly associated with skateboarding such as plywood and grip tape. I love taking these raw elements to craft beautifully designed one of a kind statement pieces.

My thrown stoneware pots are reduction fired in a gas kiln. Form and function are integral to the work and my objective is to make pots to be used, cherished and cooked in and to enhance the presentation of food.
The ripples of water as it eddies and swirls around objects fascinate me as do marks on pebbles, lichen and stonemason’s chisel marks on Yorkshire barns. These are represented by imprints and sgraffitto and with the three dot ‘Cintamani’ motif are on-going inspirations.

I make jewellery and accessories mostly using crochet hook. I am inspired by this technique and its versatility. All my life I am learning new things about this and finding new ways to use it. My work is made 99% from natural materials, semiprecious stones and silver, sometimes I use gold vermeil in my jewellery, too. I like to think that my designs offer something unique for people seeking something special.