Gem

Lorena is one of Toronto’s only female cobblers. She started cobbling by accident when asked by a friend to fix her moccasins. That moment sparked her passion for making shoes. Most places wouldn’t take her on as an apprentice because she was female, until Peter Feeney at Trend Custom Tailors took Lorena under his wing. Now she owns and runs her own successful shop in Kensington Market, and just opened another location on Dundas West.

For 15 years Heidi has been honing her handcrafted woodworking skills. Drawing from the history and traditions of woodworking from around the world, she creates original and functional wooden objects. Heidi draws inspiration from diverse places - art, music, architecture, and nature.

Danica Drago is an artist, maker, and educator from Etobicoke, Ontario but calls many places home. Graduating from the Material Art & Design program at OCAD University, Danica's practice as a tool and object maker investigates the ways in which art, design, and craft intersect, by creating functional objects that interact with the body and the spaces around us. As an avid explorer of materials, their work is not bound to one medium but rather interested in the materiality of processes, and how materials can speak for themselves, and to each other. They are passionate about bringing people into their making-process. Danica lives and works in Toronto, Canada.

Toronto based illustrator and graphic novelist Sanya is best known for her creator owned comic “1001," a re-imaging of the ancient tale of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, telling the full story of the life of Scherezade, the narrator of the story. Sanya is one of those rare quadruple threats: she’s a penciller, inker, colorist, and writer.

Prop builder, animatronics and industrial artist Taku’s skill set is truly incredible. He has worked on major feature films from Suicide Squad to Robocop. But his most unique works of art are amazing industrial art pieces - animated bird carcasses to life sized beach whales - he has created some wild installations.

Inner makes amazing and unusual hybrid instruments, which he calls "junkstruments." From the banjolee (banjo-ukulele) to a monstrous behemoth called the Big Ugly, his work is bizarre, unique, and surprisingly playable.

Reviving the art of taxidermy, and adding her own unusual twist, Ankixa mostly creates art from dead rats. What was once a hobby, has turned into a business selling a limited production to collectors, and training others to skin and stuff their own.

Mac initially developed his blacksmith skills under Blacksmith David Robertson in Ontario, and attending the Artist Blacksmith Program at Haliburton School of the Arts. In early 2016 Mac spent time in the United Kingdom forging with Blacksmith William Smith to further refine his skills. Mac opened his own forge in Kincardine, Ontario and started crafting furniture, and restoring heirlooms for local clients. In early 2015 the call of the city and the opportunities it represents drove him to relocate to Toronto. With the renewed interest in the art of the blacksmithing, Mac is enjoying teaching blacksmithing classes at the forge. Mac is living the dream, everyday he fires up his propane forge and the shop fills with a roaring hum. As the forge heats to more than 2,000 degrees, and the steel begins heating up, Mac is reminded by how much he loves blacksmithing. “Whenever people see it, they’re like, what? This still exists? It’s so cool! It’s primal. It’s a hammer and you, and you’re moving steel."