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

Founders' note

Orkney • Since 1991, the Creative Orkney trail has mapped a community of professional makers across the islands. What follows are six of those makers' stories. Here in different circumstances, working in different materials, each has chosen to build a life around making in Orkney - a place where distance, weather, community and resourcefulness are not background details, but part of the work itself.

The chairmaker of Kirkwall • Orkney chairmaker @ Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland, UK

A jeweller's seascape • Alison Moore arrived in Orkney for a quieter life, with no plan to build a business and no thought of getting into the sea. But the island – and the world beneath its waters – has shaped both

The tides have turned • For 30 years, Michael Sinclair turned wood as a hobby in the weeks between voyages. When his seafaring career ended, he already knew what he wanted to do...

WAM travel notes • "What a place: Creative, community, entrepreneurial, resourceful."

The real Harray Potters • There’s a pottery in an old schoolhouse in Orkney’s parish of Harray that started life in an old chicken shed. It was part of a plan hatched by Andrew Appleby, a man from Kent who told nobody about his intentions and just got on with it. 50 years later, his son Nicky is learning what can (and can’t) be passed on

Finding the missing link • Knitwear designers and makers Houton Bay, Orkney, Scotland, UK Hilary Grant started making lambswool knitwear on a domestic machine in Dundee. Robbie Harvey was supposed to be an architect. Between them, they have built a business that works on their terms

60 years of silver • Ola Gorie started making jewellery in a coal shed in the 1960s, drawing on an island heritage that almost nobody else was paying attention to. She’s 88 now and, while she has spent 60 years doing something significant, she’s not one to make a fuss about it

Could we buy a house and make a museum? • In a small mountain village of 3,500 people in southern Poland, around 700 women make lace by hand. One woman decided the world should know about it. Intrigued by how tradition can survive in a modern world, we went to find out the secret.

Maine • For some time, we’ve had Erica Moody among the makers saved in our ever-growing folders of notes for future visits – a smith and cutler working in Maine, USA.

Following curiosity • For someone who simply loves making, it can be hard to find the 'one thing'. Brooke Knippa's AP Curiosities is the end point on a road that included plastic dinosaurs, air plants and a lot of making for someone else

A sweeping change • Broommaker Wiscasset, Maine, USA Most makers we meet don't take the risk of having their own shop. But for Eric McIntyre, the craftsperson behind Village Handcraft, the shop was both the catalyst for his work and a breath of fresh air for a sleepy Maine coastal town

Finding her place • Choosing to live a creative life can sometimes mean going against the grain. Sometimes it can mean being open to what’s in front of you and going with the flow. For Erica Moody, both have been and are true. We visited her at her home where she told us what it’s been like for her to choose craft and skill over everything else

Carrying the story forward • What happens to an object when the reason for its making no longer exists? It’s a question Gabriel Frey is determined to answer, giving the traditionally made baskets of his people, a use that’s meaningful in modern times. We went to see how he’s doing it

The beauty seeker • Rope bowl and basketmakers Bowdoinham, Maine,...