Textile artists, ceramicists, metalsmiths, jewellery makers, woodworkers, leather crafters, furniture makers, Indigenous artists and designers: they’re all coming together for Sydney Craft Week.
The big you-know-what could not stop crafters from uniting, with this year’s 10-day festival comprising 56 workshops and 41 exhibitions to explore, as well as the ever popular Makers Markets in Darlinghurst on Saturday, October 17. It all kicks off from Friday, October 9 and runs until Sunday, October 19, will all the events involved taking CovidSafe measures.
There’s a range of skills to learn and ways you can get your hands busy. The Social Outfit (188 King St, Newtown) is running workshops in fashionable upcycling from its ethical boutique (Oct 10 and 15, find out more here), Glebe ceramic studio kil.n.it (184 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe) is running specific workshops in pottery skills like corrugated coiling and gold lustre (Oct 9, 15 and 18, find out more here), and if you’d rather try out something new from home, Woollahra Council is running online sessions in what they’re calling ‘crafts you haven’t tried’ like taxidermy and tattoo design (find out more here).
Sydney’s newest craft haven, the Fibre Art in Australia Shop (6/332 Darling St, Balmain) is celebrating its charming new premises with a host of creative classes where you can create a colourful woven wall hanging (Oct 14, $80), master still life drawing (Oct 17, $90) and other skills, check out the full program here. The store itself showcases a collective of 27 artists, designers and markers, and emerged to enable creatives to trade after restrictions interfered with their income streams.
Exhibitions over Craft Week will explore new takes on traditional forms, like the FUSE Glass Prize 2020 and the Seed Stitch Contemporary Textile Award. Others are not shying away from contemporary issues – like Tara Glasonbury’s #scomoprayerflags, created in response to the bushfire crisis, showing at 107 Projects in Redfern, and the community-sourced Corona Quilt hanging at the East Sydney Doctors display window opposite the National Art School.
Over the past 12 months crafters have responded to major catastrophes, including the summer bushfires and the ongoing international health crisis. It is only fitting that this year’s theme, ‘change makers’, is as much about making change as it is about the way we respond to changing circumstances. Check out the full program here.