Hands-on highlights from Sydney Craft Week

Sydney Ceramics Market, Carriageworks. Photo: Amy Piddington

The 9th annual Sydney Craft Week led by the Australian Design Centre (ADC) runs from 10 to19 October, 2025 with a packed program of 240 events that take place all over Sydney and in NSW regions. A key event is ADC’s MAKE Award, showcasing the best in Australian craft and design innovation with work by 36 finalists selected from 197 entries demonstrating the skill and ingenuity of Australia's design and making community.

MAKE award finalist Roseanne Bartley's A Poetry of rings is made from mulga.

Sydney Craft Week (SCW) is the first and only city-wide festival dedicated to presenting the latest in contemporary craft and offering a huge range of practical experiences for the public to get involved and produce their own work. SCW encourages an appreciation of making objects by hand, learning new skills, connecting with craft communities, and celebrating and supporting artists and makers all over Sydney and beyond. The packed program includes workshops, markets, exhibitions, open studios, symposiums and more.

In 2025, SCW presents events across 37 suburbs of Sydney and beyond, with 600+ participating artists and 57 participating groups. First launched in 2017, the festival now runs over 10 days and extends to regional areas including the Illawarra, Shoalhaven, Central Coast and Blue Mountains.

Square Peg Studio. Photo: Amy Piddington

This year's theme is 'Material Intelligence', with makers and artists reflecting this in diverse ways in their work and events. Sydney Craft Week Festival Director Lisa Cahill said: “In many ways material intelligence is a counterpoint to our lives increasingly lived online, with artificial intelligence rapidly taking on what we once considered human skills. Making is a fundamental human skill that requires thinking at each stage of the process about concepts, techniques, tools and materials. Craft practitioners have a deep respect for their materials, continually honing the practices needed to work with them. They often reuse and reinvent materials with an emphasis on sustainability, a theme reflected in many SCW events, from turning tea-towels into tote bags, to recycling ghost nets into works of art.

”Each year Sydney Craft Week is proud to bring a dedicated and diverse group of makers, artists, groups and organisations together, with the opportunity for the public to discover their local makers and artists or travel further afield for a special craft experience, from Katoomba to Port Kembla. It’s not just the chance to meet craftspeople and buy their beautiful handmade work, but also to increase your own material intelligence by trying your hand at the many different craft practices – woodwork, jewellery making, book binding, embroidery, sewing, weaving, felting, ceramics, metalwork and more."

Rachel Shaw (centre) will offer classes in bird carving and bowl carving in Kogarah during Sydney Craft Week.

Just a few of the favourite annual highlights include Sydney Ceramics Market at Carriageworks, Woodfest at Bulli, and Reverse Garbage’s upcycling workshops in Marrickville. New events this year include woodcarving at Japanese Tools Australia in Kogarah, a sustainable textiles symposium in Katoomba, and workshops with master weavers from Numbulwar Numburindi Arts at Hazelhurst Arts Centre, Gymea.

All images courtesy Australian Design Centre

Explore the full program: sydneycraftweek.com