Meet our Magnificent Makers

I enjoy exercising and reading in my spare time. I have always been interested in design. When I was younger I loved to draw, paint and design! I knew that I would always end up in design which is why I wanted too further my design career by joining Edinburgh Napier Universities Product Design course which has led me to this great opportunity to design for little inventors!

Hi!
I'm Siôn and I love to draw and make things out of cardboard. I especially like to make fun things like cardboard pinball machines and monster detectors! 
As an illustrator I get to draw as my job, this is something I wanted for as long as I can remember so I feel very lucky that it has happened. I also like to help others to draw and make too because the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned!

Hello! I am a product designer and Fab Lab technician. I make home and gift ware at my product design company, J Jacob Designs, where I use both traditional craft and modern design. As a Fab Lab technician I am involved with 3D printing, pottery, laser cutting, vinyl cutting, screen printing, sketching, and moulding and casting.

I run Beats Lab, workshop based computer music projects for children and young people in South East London youth clubs. In sessions we create our own original beats and lyrics, then release ours songs on social media.

Hello My name is Nicola from @Peg Creations.  I am a artist who uses sustainable material to create a number of products and art.  I also write and deliver creative workshops at events and festivals.

Ella Bulley is a Material Designer based in London, creating work that frequently crosses the realms of textiles, product, art and set design. Interests in material exploration developed while enrolled at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art and Design, where she completed the MA Material Futures (formerly MA Textile Futures) in 2014.  

Using contextual research and material experiments intersected with artisan techniques to direct her design approach, it becomes a tool to transform the raw into the refined. The design outcomes whether objects or experiences, narrate the craft process, material research and explored themes of historical, social and cultural movements.   

While I work in software for my day job I have always had hobbies that involve skills useful to being a maker. 3D printing and CAD are the main ones. I find it very satisfying to design something to solve a problem, see it materialising in front of my eyes and be able to hold it my hands. 

I met Andy Smithson through the DIY drone community and we are both members of Teesside Hackspace. When we came across the drone based inventions we both knew we had to get involved and make these great ideas real.

I run Chalk, an arts organisation based in Gateshead. The organisation was created in 2015 as a reaction to a gap in provision for children and their families to enjoy high quality art, music and film experiences which were unexpected and ambitious. With a strong focus on engaging both the parent and the child the organisation has developed a vast portfolio of innovative collaborations and commissions carried out with arts organisations in the region. 
Chalk are the producers of MAPS Festival, a festival of music, art and play which takes place in venues across Newcastle/Gateshead in February each year.

I was inspired by TV shows like Bitsa when I was a kid. It was like Blue Peter, but more 'punk' - and even though I've had a very unconventional route into Design and Engineering, I find that this pace to fast making/ideation is what I love most. People are always core to whatever I make, be it solving a known need, or as a provocation to create something entirely different.

My work is often based on research, once I've selected a subject.  I look for the quirky and how I can use this as a narrative in my work.  The quirkyness often inspires the choice of materials.