Rebecca Lloyd is a seasoned creative who has honed her skills over many years across a range of industries, including nearly two decades as a sculptor and a prop maker in film and television. With her partner and two pooches by her side, she said goodbye to the big city and relocated to Mangawhai, Northland, to pursue her dream of hand crafting high quality leather goods that exude beauty and functionality.
Rotorua designer and crocheter Lauren (Soo-Eun) Lee is the creative mind behind the enchanting Roundline range of crochet toys and illustrations. Originally from South Korea, Lauren has built on her arts and design training to develop her professional life here in Aotearoa as a toy maker, photographer, and portrait artist.
Raised in a home full of art supplies, Sylvie Watson is hard wired to create things. The Auckland-based jewellery designer and maker draws on her creative training and the nature of found objects and materials to design contemporary jewellery that combines simple lines, strong form, and organic shapes and textures.
Christchurch-based graphic designer Donna Robertson is devoted to creating illustrations that grab people’s attention and hearts. She finds inspiration in her beloved city of Ōtautahi Christchurch, creating illustrations that celebrate city’s revitalisation. Her work has recently been recognised by the Christchurch City Council, who value her designs as as gifts for visiting dignitaries, and her beautiful designs also feature in this year’s Felt Christmas Gift Guide.
Nicola Price of Orchid Blue NZ leads a busy life: she is a jewellery maker by day and an HCA in a rest home/dementia unit by night. Her jewellery reflects her desire to reduce waste by upcycling and recycling tiny everyday art treasures – vintage silverwares and Aotearoa’s beautiful old coins.
John Robertson of Wood and Chisel crafts beautiful wooden homewares from his Ōtautahi Christchurch family home. His work is a response to the absence of beauty and meaning in modern day mass production. His mission? To create beautiful and useful objects with unique pieces of reclaimed timber, to bring moments of joy as we go about our everyday activities.
For Liz Neale, it all began with a desire to create something truly special for her sensitive skin – something that not only brought results, but also nourished and nurtured the skin with the goodness of nature. Seeing skincare products with extravagant claims and sometimes questionable ingredients sparked a fire within her to do better, to offer something natural, genuine, and effective. The result? Bodytreats
When Emma Gillard sold her bookshop and took time out to recuperate after a breast cancer diagnosis, she discovered a passion for pottery that has taken over her North Canterbury garage and become Emma G Potteree. Beautiful textures are a feature of her hand built ceramic homewares, inspired by textiles and natural treasures she collects.
When the opportunity arose for architects Natalie and Lukas to take their passion for sustainable living and love of growing microgreens to the next level, they took the plunge and started Little Stem Microgreens.
Julia Banks has a passion for hand making slow-crafted sterling silver jewellery using traditional silversmithing techniques. Working from her home studio in rural Greendale, Canterbury, her work takes inspiration from nature and her home garden – and her focus is on exquisite detail and quality from beginning to end.