Handmade on the South Coast artisans

 Helga is a South Coast designer-maker creating contemporary jewellery that sits between everyday adornment and wearable sculpture.

She explores geometry, texture, movement and composition, balancing considered design with the unpredictability of making by hand. 

Helga loves the combination of precision, intuition and play. The technical side of working with metal alongside the unexpected things that happen when you melt, hammer, texture and shape it.

Helga says "I’m particularly enjoying hand-forming chains, where every link is slightly different and the finished piece moves and settles differently with each wearer. I’m also exploring more sculptural, geometric and botanical forms, and playing with how they come together.

For me, a piece isn’t really complete until it finds its wearer. I love seeing what happens when someone puts a piece on. How it moves, how they wear it, and how their own personality becomes part of the composition."  

Each piece is designed and made in my South Coast studio using sterling silver, precious metals, gemstones and reclaimed materials. I make jewellery to be worn, played with and lived with.

Looking ahead, I’m excited to delve into sculptural works and continue crafting jewellery that I enjoy making and resonates with my clients. I’m eager to incorporate elements from my travels into my designs and create keepsakes that celebrate people, place and time. 

Find and Follow Mooi Jewellery on:

https://www.facebook.com/MooiJewelleryAustralia

https://www.instagram.com/mooi.jewellery.au/

https://www.mooiiaustralia.com/jewellery

Karen life has moved through many homes, places, and spaces—indoors and outdoors, from urban environments to coastal and rural settings. Each has its own rhythm and energy. 

Since retiring from teaching in Sydney five years ago, she has found solace and renewed creative energy in her surroundings. 

Karen's creative path began in the 1970s with textile printing for architectural works. Thirty years of teaching Design Technology further strengthened her design sensibility. 

Karen developed a distinctive approach to wooden assemblages, creating works that shift between three and two dimensions, simplicity and complexity, and continue to evolve.

She uses discarded wood—materials with previous lives, once part of a larger whole and is committed to a sustainable art practice. 

 Poetic landscapes and built environments remain central themes in her practice. Karens abstractions move between representation and resemblance, topography and geography, shaped by nature and by the structural logic of layering. Drawing on minimalism, constructivism, and the illusion of depth created by positive and negative spaces.

Viewers are invited to move through the spaces in between and reflect on the places that shape their own reality. The work meditates on the relationship between constructed environments and nature, balancing planned structure with spontaneous expression. Through layering, she builds translucent depths where human-made geometry and organic terrain merge. 

Karens wearable and tabletop artworks explore many of these same concepts. As do her larger wall art pieces. 

Karlie Donaldson, is an Australian visual artist hailing from
Yuin lands, Mystery Bay on the South Coast of NSW, where she grew up in the bush and spent endless hours playing in nature as a child, which has shaped her creative world.

Art has been a huge part of her life since her very first childhood
scribbles, up to her present life as a primary school art teacher and
practicing independent artist.

Karlie says "Art is something that feels essential and definitive of my experience here in this life. My artwork largely reflects my absolute adoration of the natural world. and my creations aim to invite people to appreciate and care for the spectacular natural beauty and unique animals of this amazing country we live in."

Karlies work comes in a range of forms including gift cards, magnets, art prints and framed works and high pigment vinyl car stickers. She has recently started to create hand made vintage style wall plaques and hand-painted vases.

You can find Karlie at

www.https://karliedonaldsonart.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089249387462&locale=cy_GB

https://www.instagram.com/karlie_donaldson_art/

Kath Unsworth is a visual artist based on the South Coast,  inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds her,  particularly the lush bushland, changing seasons and the birds and  insects that visit her garden. 

Kath explores the relationship between observation and  imagination, creating one-of-a-kind artworks using pen, ink or  coloured pencils, often bringing together detailed studies of native  birds, insects and garden life.

Kath loves capturing the fine details of  feathers, branches and natural textures, creating intricate  compositions that invite the viewer to pause and look more closely. 

  Kath says "My inspiration comes from simply observing the natural world  around me. Birds arriving and leaving the garden, insects moving  through the foliage, and the changing light and seasons all provide endless ideas.

I especially love working with fine-line pen and ink to build highly 

detailed images from many small observations. Working primarily in 

black and white gives my pieces a quiet, meditative quality, while 

allowing the intricate details and textures of the natural world to take 

centre stage. My work is a way of slowing down, noticing the small 

things, and translating those observations into something 

imaginative and lasting.

Kath is working on a new collection of giant sized artworks of the birds 

in her garden that are thriving since the black summer bush fires.

She was deeply saddened by the loss of wildlife after the fires. The collection is titled 'Resurgence' a celebration of her thriving habitat garden. 

You can find Kath on:

https://www.facebook.com/Unsworth.Kath

 www.kathunsworth.com.au 

 Bliss Blend organic tea with Australian organically grown herbs and Green tea herbal blends. 

Come and taste the difference of Australian organic herbal tea.

 Hand harvested and carefully created by, Kathy Stokes, Naturopath for therapeutic benefits and your enjoyment…. It’s pure Bliss!

Find & Follow Bliss blend

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blissblendorganictea

Istagram: https://www.instagram.com/blissblendtea_naturopath/

Website: https://www.blissblend.com.au/

 #blissblendorganictea #blissblend #australiangrownherbaltea #australianherbalist #itspurebliss #southcoastmarkets #icedtealover #womenshealthmatters  

Hi, Im Kate, Im fairly new to pottery and I'm enjoying the lessons along the way. 

After 20years working as a natural builder, sculpting homes out of mud, Ive transitioned my focus onto clay in a more refined way. 

 My background in mud has given me a headstart into this new work and it feels really great to be able to be creative in a new way, have my hands in the clay and now start to share my work with the wider community. 

Find & Follow Kate

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/hakea.clay?stkn=MTNuZXNjOTQ1MGJ0eA== 

Kaz is the creator behind Kaz’s Crafty Cottage, where she creates unique handmade mosaic artworks.

Kaz works with vintage glass, colourful crockery and refurbished frames, combining different colours, textures and patterns to create one-of-a-kind pieces. She particularly loves recreating beautiful wildlife photographs as mosaics, capturing the character and detail of birds, animals and other subjects in glass and ceramic.

Earlier this year, Kaz and her partner  moved from the Southern Highlands to Tuross Heads, after falling in love with the South Coast while regularly travelling down to host markets. They decided it was time to make the move and embrace the coastal lifestyle — and she loves the inspiration it brings to her artwork

 Nature, wildlife and the coast are a big part of what inspires Kaz, and she loves creating colourful pieces that bring a little bit of that beauty into people’s homes.

Kaz says "I’m excited to be part of the local market community and Handmade on the South Coast to share my handmade mosaics with others who appreciate unique, colourful and handcrafted artwork."

Find & Follow Kaz

https://www.facebook.com/kazscraft

Kerren and her family moved back to the South Coast

after spending almost 20 years enjoying SA to retire in this beautiful climate amongst our gumtrees.

Kerren has been spinning and knitting constantly for the past 20 years after a long rest to raise children and work. 

Her spinning journey began at the age of 16 at an alternative school, and she fondly remembers knitting her sister a double cable school jumper when she was only 14. 

Kerren's handspun beanies and uggs are all crafted with love, with each beanie requiring 15-18 hours of work. Sometimes, she feels a tinge of sadness to see them sold, just like the artisan pickles she enjoys making, each reflecting her dedication to her craft.

 Kerren says "Mount Everest? "I actually had a lad approach me one day with a photo of him in my handspun beanie and Mount Everest in the background. What a proud moment for me."  

Kerren also grows and produces her own sauces, preserves and has always been a passion.   

Kerren says "Being diagnosed Coeliac a few years ago made me extremely aware of the need for foods with flavour and no gluten.   Meeting IBS sufferers I also learned of their severe food restrictions and fodmap friendly sauces and stuff happened. ALL my products are coeliac safe and each market I try incorporate a baked goodie or two that is as close to  “normal” as it can be."    

Kerren visits many of our local markets in the area with her amazing artisan pickles, fermented foods, relishes, sauces, and goodies. 

Find and Follow Wooly Nits 

https://www.facebook.com/1959spinna 

Find and Follow Wild Gourmet https://www.facebook.com/WILDGourmet/

Woodwork with an Emphasis on Turning

For Kevin Douglas, woodturning is more than a craft. It is a lifelong passion that began during his school years.

Having spent much of his life in the Riverina, Kevin now calls the beautiful south coast town of Narrawallee home. Over the past twenty years, he has established a workshop where creativity and craftsmanship come together. While native timbers are his preferred medium, Kevin enjoys experimenting with a wide range of materials, transforming them into unique pieces that balance function with artistry. His work often carries a touch of humour, ensuring every creation has its own personality.

When the COVID lockdowns arrived, Kevin found a silver lining. Rather than feeling confined, he immersed himself in his workshop, spending countless hours refining his craft and bringing new ideas to life.

Travel also plays an important role in his creative process. 

Kevin and his wife Kerry enjoy caravanning through the Australian outback, and these adventures have provided opportunities to collect an extraordinary variety of native timbers. Each species tells its own story through colour, grain, texture and character. Among his collection are gidgee, purpleheart, needlewood, dead finish, river red gum, beefwood, bulloke, river coobah and king banksia nuts, along with feature-rich olive and mulberry and silky oak to name a few more. Kevin also enjoys breathing new life into recycled hardwoods, including old fence palings and railway sleepers, embracing the beauty of their weathered history.

Although relatively new to promoting his work on the South Coast, Kevin is excited to share his creations with a wider audience through the Hand Made on the South Coast market. He thrives on the challenge of creating something different with every piece. Just as no two pieces of timber are ever the same, the conversations and reactions of those who view his work continue to inspire new ideas and fresh directions.

For Kevin, every project begins with a unique piece of timber and ends with a story waiting to be shared.

Cracked Pepper Kitchen is a small family run food business based in beautiful Bermagui on the NSW South Coast.

With over 20 years experience as a chef, Kristy has combined her love of local seasonal food with recipes handed down through generations in her family. Inspired by her mother Lynne's successful gourmet preserve  business, Kristy has created a modern range of small batch preserves, relishes, pickles , dressings and cordials.

Her handmade preserves and condiments are made to elevate a simple mid week meal or add something special to a happy hour grazing platter. When you take a jar or Cracked Pepper Kitchen condiments home, it becomes something more than something delicious in the pantry, it becomes a taste and lasting memory of  your visit to the pristine South Coast.

Using local and seasonal produce Cracked Pepper Kitchen celebrates the flavours of the South Coast. Favourites include, Smoky Chilli Tomato Chutney, Apricot & Chilli Chutney, Eggplant Kasundi, Jumbleberry Jam and Asian Sesame & Lime Dressing.  

Kristy and her husband Jim grow fruit, herbs and garlic from their home, where her registered kitchen sits on the tranquil shore of Wallaga Lake.

Kristy is proud to work alongside local growers, producers and small businesses, creating food that reflects the community and the beautiful South Coast.