Sarah Yakawonis has a passion for paper art and a desire to share her knowledge in person, in kits and online. She Graduated from the Maine College of Art in 2009 with a BFA in design. She is enamored with paper flowers and is obsessed with creating perfect paper flowers. Experimenting with innumerable combinations of papers and techniques, she takes all of that expertise and puts it into kits so people can skip all of the hard stuff and enjoy an afternoon making truly amazing paper flowers. She loves sharing that special joy that comes from making something beautiful with as many people as she can!
Robert Mahar is an artist, designer and maker who develops and teaches imaginative crafts and clever do-it-yourself projects through high-quality video tutorials on Bluprint, CreativeLive and YouTube and in-person workshops. He’s also a proud alumni of the inaugural season of NBC’s creative competition show Making It with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman. The crafty content Robert develops and presents to his online audience and workshop attendees is often rooted in nostalgia. His talent for reinventing old-school crafts with a decidedly modern twist is evident in the gift line he developed with Knock Knock and has gained him a loyal following. With an education in studio arts and art history, he has worked in a variety of creative fields including 13 years as an appraiser of modern and contemporary art. When he’s not working in his studio, Robert obsesses over vintage craft books and schemes ways to make it big as a doughnut connoisseur.
Lisa Solomon is a mixed media artist whose work has been exhibited and collected all over the world. She received her BA in art practice from UC Berkeley and her MFA from Mills College, and has been a professor in the Bay Area for 15+ years. As a Hapa [her mother is Japanese and her father is Jewish Caucasian] she is profoundly interested in personal identity, and all things chroma. Her work reflects this as well as an incredible love for textiles. She regularly uses “craft” materials and techniques in a “fine art” context. Another passion is bridging the gaps between being creative, living creatively, and making a living as a creative.
As editorial director of Sasquatch Books, Jennifer Worick seeks out and works with the most gifted writers, chefs, naturalists, artists, and thought leaders in the Pacific Northwest and brings their talents to a national audience. She’s also a New York Times-bestselling author of more than 25 books, including The Prairie Girl’s Guide to Life, Backcountry Betty: Crafting in Style, and Simple Gifts. She is also the co-founder of The Business of Books, where she helped hundreds of burgeoning authors develop book proposals.
Celeste owned a downtown Portland boutique, Radish Underground, for 10 years. She now owns Thunderpants USA, a line of organic cotton underwear that are sold online and in independent stores in the US and Canada. She also teaches classes at Portland Fashion Institute and for Portland Community College’s Retail Builders Program.
Anna Osgoodby is a Co-founder of Bold & Pop, a social media, branding, and Squarespace design collective. As an industry veteran with over 10 years of experience, she has represented everyone from start-ups and small businesses to major TV networks and A-list celebrities. While a Pacific Northwest native, Anna actually spent most of her career in New York City where she discovered her entrepreneurial ambitions and met her business partner, Mallory Musante. Today, they help lifestyle business owners shine by launching engaging social media and influencer marketing campaigns as well as building impactful brands from the ground up through branding and website design.
Kim Werker is like a camp counselor for grownups. She is the author of Make It Mighty Ugly and a half-dozen crochet books, and she leads workshops on creative experimentation and slaying creative demons. She works as a writer and freelance editor and hosts an online community of creative adventurers (which you should join, just saying). Kim lives in Vancouver, BC. Say hello at www.kimwerker.com, and be sure to sign up for her weekly newsletter.