Sam Kelly has been a farm hand, an artist, a theatre lighting designer, a research scientist, a costumier’s flunkey, a games developer, a festival organiser, and a barefoot engineer. A Quaker with a fondness for sharp steel & strong drink, brought up in a theatre family and in the mountains of Eryri, he fell in love early on with pattern & grammar, colour & form – with the variety & amazingness of materials science & material culture, from Roman ceramics and Elizabethan woodwork to lasers and functionalised fullerenes. Maker Studio came from his need to work & share and his love for others’ work.
Elly Metcalfe is a classically trained folk singer & composer, and occasional disability rights activist, who’s switched from the double bass to the ukulele and loves having an instrument that’s possible to play in bed. An experienced amateur actor & casting director and aspiring Quaker Druid, Elly is driven by a love of story, landscape, and music and of their power to move & inspire. Having worked in a bookshop, a charity shop, and a theatre box office, and with extensive event organisation experience, Elly also brings a lot of logistical and administrative ability to Maker Studio.
Arkady Rose is an artist working in traditional media & digital painting, a jeweller, and a musician who plays a truly unfair range of instruments for anything from Morris sides to the Church of England. He spends a lot of time working with Asian ball-jointed dolls—painting, customising, and making shoes, wigs, clothes, & eyes—and on occasion also makes clothes for full-sized people and draws portraits. He’s a genderqueer Christo-pagan, with a close affinity for Bast, Epona, and Fox, and a history buff with a keen interest in Ancient Egypt, Greece, Romano-British & Celtic periods. Arkady brings craft skills, experience as a company director, and a keen interest in trans & disability issues to Maker Studio.
Jenny Williamson comes from a family of creative types. Lacking any artistic ability whatsoever herself, she decided to become an accountant. In her spare time, Jenny indulges in bibliophilia, watching cartoons, and dabbling with music and amateur dramatics. She also has a house-gnome called Alphonse. Jenny is on a mission to use her finance skills for Good, currently working full-time for a charity and always bringing a calculator to social events. She brings knowledge of finance and not-for-profits, and lots of enthusiasm, to Maker Studio.
