The Natural Artisan: Autumn 2017

ISSUE 13 | AUTUMN 2017

VENETIAN PLASTER MASTERPIECE

OTSUMIGAKI: THE SUBTLE LUSTRE OF JAPANESE PLASTER

METHODS AND MATERIALS ACROSS THE CENTURIES

TANIA HUBBARD: CHANGING THE WORLD WITH HER HANDS

Autumn 2017

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The lustre patina of Otsumigaki Japanese plaster brings a gentle warmth to this room. Photography: Tiam Whitfield

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The Natural Artisan

AUTUMN 2017

CONTENTS 04

CREATIVE ZONE: TODD BEATSON

We meet the makers Amidst a plethora of mass manufactured items available today, a new appreciation of the handcrafted appears to be emerging. A fascination with the people who make bespoke items, their crafts and methods is a delightful complement to this appreciation.

In this issue we meet makers across three very different industries and find common themes to their approach: an almost obsessive passion for what they do; pride in workmanship with an uncompromising commitment to excellence; and a desire to share something unique and personal with their customers.

While every artisan has his or her own methods, the process in which they work is meditative and focused, with razor sharp concentration.

It’s the ultimate presence, the successful convergence of self and work that removes any separation of the two.

An exploration of artisan craft would not be complete without an incentive to explore your own creative potential. Check out Create.DO.Inspire for some ideas. My personal discovery of this issue is the book, Bowerbird, a joy of a volume I just had to share. Such books empower all of us to explore the maker within.

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CREATE. DO. INSPIRE!

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VENETIAN PLASTER MASTERPIECE

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OTSUMIGAKI: THE SUBTLE LUSTRE OF JAPANESE PLASTER

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URBAN THAI ON THE GOLD COAST

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METHODS AND MATERIALS ACROSS THE CENTURIES AND ACROSS THE WORLD

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Rebecca Park, Editor

AUTUMN 2017

Cover Image: Venetian Plaster spiral staircase by artisan Chris Porep.

See story on page 08.

Cover Photography: Ross Eason EDITORIAL

Editor: Rebecca Park Design: Tiam Whitfield Contact: editor@thenaturalartisan.com

Autumn 2017

TANIA HUBBARD: CHANGING THE WORLD WITH HER HANDS

The Natural Artisan: bringing together ‘the makers’ of all kinds to celebrate and share the art of crafting beautiful spaces and objects. We do this with a collective intention to live in tune with nature.

As Tolkien said in The Fellowship of the Ring: “We put the thought of all that we love into all that we make.”

Published by ROCKCOTE 18 Machinery Road, YANDINA QLD 4561

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"I cannot break my identity away from pottery – it is part of me.

The exploration of pottery is an exploration of my own life."

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The Natural Artisan

Todd Beatson, potter and director of Byron School of Clay I am a thrower. That means I throw my pottery on the pottery wheel. I am drawn to throwing for its meditative qualities and immediacy.

When I make my pots, there is a point where the world just drops away and I become engrossed in form. I am really interested in shapes in space and how the curve of a pot, the lip or the footring can convey meaning. My style is raw, form-based and honest. I don’t use glazes, leaving the finish natural. Working in that way, you can’t cover up much.

I like to interact deeply with the material and have an interest in rather than dominate it. My art is reintroducing the human factor into things we use everyday. Individually collected pieces that we surround ourselves with create a beautiful story in the home.

I wanted to do something with my hands after doing literature and philosophy at university so I studied wheel throwing at Slow Clay Studio in Collingwood with accomplished thrower Jane Sawyer. Following a year as a student, I took a job as the studio technician, preparing the clay, firing, and mixing glazes, immersing myself in the art at work and home.

We moved to Byron Shire last year looking for a seachange and a more intimate community. I launched Byron School of Clay to give people an affordable entry level pathway into pottery and a chance to try it for themselves, offering the same experience I had entering into the craft.

It is important to have my pieces around as I work, during their different stages of being made. Some pieces may start and then I’m not sure where they will go so they can sit for a while. The bamboo cutters are used to scrape away excess clay to help form the pot; the sponges on chopsticks are used to dab out any excess moisture.

Pottery is such an old craft and looking back was more of a trade. Now, people who do the job of a tradie but in an interesting, creative way, are considered artisans rather than tradies. It’s all about understanding and having a relationship with your material and that investment takes it from a job to a vocation. I cannot break my identity away from pottery – it is part of me.

The exploration of pottery is an exploration of my own life. www.bsoc.com.au

Photography: Jules Hunt

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GET HANDS-ON AT THE GREEN HEART FAIR Interact with and learn from some of Brisbane's local sustainable artisans at the Green Heart Fair on Sunday 4 June. Feel empowered to make more sustainable and smarter choices as you get creative in one of the many hands-on workshops.

More: www.greenheartfair.com.au

CREATING BEAUTIFUL INTERIORS WITH THE THINGS YOU COLLECT Sibella Court's book is a must for anyone who loves exploring the beach, forest or second hand markets, foraging for collectable gems.

This treasure trove of quirky ideas celebrates the art of collecting anything from paper to tools with inspiration for sorting and arranging such assortments in unique ways.

Available: at all good bookstores and online

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The Natural Artisan

COOL FOOD STUFF With bloggers, scientists, farmers, celebrity chefs, friends and Instagram clambering for a say in what goes on our dinner plates, young people are dealing with an increasing number of mixed messages around food. The Youth Food Movement is on a mission to educate young adults about food, building a generation of Australians who can cook, read a label, understand the basics of how food grows and how it reaches our plate. The movement connects people so they can learn from each other with regular events in pubs, living rooms and on laptop screens across the country.

Get involved: www.youthfoodmovement.org.au Photography: Alex Lee Jackson

NEW NATURAL MATERIALS COLOUR: NISHI ROCKCOTE has released a new colour in our Natural Materials range to reflect the on trend natural concrete colour many customers are seeking in their finishes. “Nishi� is the popular dusty grey colour used on the Hotel Hotel project in Canberra (pictured), giving the walls their slightly industrial, raw yet luxurious look.

More: www.rockcote.com.au /articles/new-natural-materials-colour-nishi

Photography: Ross Honeysett

DISCOVER THE ART OF POTTERY Ever wanted to try pottery? The Byron School of Clay has a variety of wheel throwing courses for beginners and students with previous pottery experience. Immerse yourself in a weekend class where you will create a small collection of pieces ready for firing, or go deeper and enrol in a term-based program. Kids classes are also available.

Enrol: www.bsoc.com.au/classes

Autumn 2017

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COVER STORY

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The Natural Artisan

ARTISAN CHRIS POREP IS JUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF THE FOUR-STOREY VENETIAN PLASTER SPIRAL STAIRCASE HE AND HIS TEAM COMPLETED INSIDE THIS REMARKABLE GOLD COAST HOME. Photography: Ross Eason

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"THIS IS ONE OF THE SHOW PIECES AND HIGHLIGHTS OF MY CAREER." Artisan Chris Porep

An inset in one of the staircase walls shows off the handcrafted Venetian Plaster by artisan Chris Porep and his team.

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The Natural Artisan

The timeless Venetian Plaster masterpiece adorns 400 square metres of curved wall, applied and polished by hand using traditional methods.

A The Venetian Plaster carries through the entire entry area, flanked by timber doors and a solid marble inset (right).

major renovation was undertaken on the home including adding an extra storey and extending the existing staircase.

With the staircase being the first visible surface upon entering the home, and wrapping around a stunning glass lift, it was important for the finish to really make an impression.

Chris from Gold Coast Render Technologies explained that the owner sought a class one eggshell finish with a smooth, glassy polish that alleviated the necessity to paint.

Job preparation was critical to obtaining a quality finish.

The artisans needed to plan ahead to ensure continuity of application and work around existing scaffolding.

"The job was done in segments," said Chris. "Existing painted block combined with new blockwork and concrete in the extension made the surface preparation challenging."

"The entire surface had to be prepared with ROCKCOTE render and two coats of ROCKCOTE Velvetino to obtain a level surface for application of the Venetian Plaster," Chris said.

The ROCKCOTE Venetian Plaster was applied in its natural white colour with meticulous care taken to obtain clean, flowing lines and ensure there were no visible imperfections in the curves and around handrails.

Artisan Chris Porep from Gold Coast Render Technologies surrounded by the curved ROCKCOTE Venetian Plaster walls.

The staircase, along with Venetian Plaster ceilings in a living room and bedroom, took three artisans two months to complete, a satisfying job for the entire team.

“We all stood back when it was complete and said ‘wow, we created that’,” Chris said.

“It provides me with so much satisfaction when people select a hand crafted Venetian Plaster finish for their walls and then decorate their interiors to suit. This is one of the show pieces and highlights of my career. We took the time to get it right and in the end it was absolutely faultless,” enthused Chris.

Several rooms carry the polished Venetian Plaster through to the ceilings, highlighted with inset lighting.

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Photography: Tiam Whitfield

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The Natural Artisan

ROCKCOTE Otsumigaki provides a contemporary yet earthy canvas for the Lemongrass Thai restaurant at Southport.

Photography: Ross Eason

The Japanese concept of wabi sabi is weaving a quiet influence through western design with an increasing number of designers turning to this ancient philosophy to guide the creation of more authentic public and private spaces, as Rebecca Park reports.

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ike any philosophy that has been handed down through generations, interpretations of wabi sabi vary but the contemporary understanding is generally along the lines of finding beauty in the imperfect and impermanent. Wabi sabi “reminds us to slow down and take comfort in the simple, natural beauty around us” (1)

Author Andrew Juniper explains: “Wabi-sabi … is an understated beauty that exists in the modest, rustic, imperfect, or event decayed, an aesthetic sensibility that finds a melancholic beauty in the impermanence of all things”.(2) Wabi sabi is an acceptance that natural, uneven, blemished, fleeting and random all have their place in a world where “perfection” is generally perceived as straight, unblemished, symmetrical, permanent and consistent. It is an acknowledgement of the charm in imperfection, where the seemingly imperfect is actually perfect, beautiful even.

Hand applied plaster finishes have been an important way for the Japanese culture to express wabi sabi in their surrounds over generations.

The finished product of plaster on walls exudes everything that wabi sabi is about – natural, Autumn 2017

handmade, unique, imprecise, undulated and with a fluidity of colour.

ROCKCOTE Otsumigaki (or “Otsu” for short) draws inspiration from the lime and clay interior finishes used in traditional Japanese buildings, to offer a smooth, polished, decorative finish for contemporary homes and spaces.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF JAPANESE PLASTERS Natural plasters are deeply embedded into the construction history of Asian countries including Japan, China and Thailand, with many clay and lime plaster finishes in these locations enduring for generations.

In the spirit of wabi sabi, the Japanese have long used plaster finishes in their homes, temples and public buildings. The finishes are particularly prominent in Japanese tea rooms (‘chashitsu’ in Japanese) where traditional tea ceremonies are held, walls “adorned with plasters made of local earth, mud and rice stalks; and lime for the flashy more merchant style of building”.(3) CONTINUED

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The Shiraz Moderna restaurant features a geometric shaped ceiling, counter front and façade finished with Otsumigaki. The main walls are finished in ROCKCOTE Earthen Render Medium.

Artisan: Ben Dears Photography: Ross Eason

In preindustrial Japan, hydrated lime was very expensive to produce so lime plasters were only used for palaces and high performance applications.

The peasants used clay and earth plasters. Members of the middle classes discovered that a beautiful polished finish could be achieved by adding a small amount of lime to their clay plaster. This produced a harder, stronger finish that was extensively used in entrances and stairwells.

THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF OTSUMIGAKI

It is this tradition in which ROCKCOTE’s Otsumigaki was formulated, a clay based plaster with enough lime to ensure durability in contemporary settings and allow the finish to be polished for an elegant, natural effect.

Like all natural plasters, Otsumigaki is inherently sensuous: its presence in a room enlivens the senses and brings us back in touch with the natural world.

Otsumigaki’s unique lime and clay based formulation allows it to be polished to a lustre finish but it can also be left natural for a smooth, velvety aesthetic.

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Otsumigaki is a completely natural plaster that is free of dangerous chemicals and produces no odours or offgassing. It has low embodied energy (energy necessary for the entire product lifecycle) and is fully recyclable meaning it can be returned to the earth after use.

A beautiful, gentle alternative to painted walls, Otsumigaki delivers a more authentic, evocative aesthetic with the illusion of depth and texture in a smooth surface.

The Natural Artisan

Otsumigaki has a subtle elegance that gives walls life yet allows the surrounding elements to speak for themselves.

TRADITIONAL APPLICATION; CONTEMPORARY USE Meaning “polished and compressed” in Japanese, Otsumigaki is a wet plaster product designed to be applied by hand in two coats with a trowel. The second coat is applied before the first coat is dry (referred to by artisans as applying “green on green”).

Once the second coat is dry (usually the next day), the artisan uses a Japanese Polishing Trowel and Carnauba Wax to compress and polish the surface, carefully running the trowel over every inch to deliver a smooth, lustrous finish.

The clay in the Otsumigaki is reactivated when it comes into contact with the liquid Carnauba Wax, the burnishing action of the trowel closing up the surface, creating the polished finish.

Otsumigaki has a subtle elegance that gives walls life yet allows the surrounding elements in a space to speak for themselves.

In contrast with the often dramatic and highly polished appearance of European inspired plasters (such as Venetian Plaster), Ostumigaki offers a dreamier, slightly stony look with a more subtle colour range in its patina.

“Otsumigaki offers a really nice patina with a subtleness of colour and a smoothness to the touch that clients really love,” says artisan Gorni Cahani from Render it Oz. Autumn 2017

Otsumigaki comes to life when used extensively in an entire space - carrying the plaster from walls through to the ceiling for example. Create a number of different effects in a single room such as walls and ceilings in Otsumigaki's natural white colour, complemented by a polished finish feature wall or fireplace surround in a contemporary colour.

POPULAR USES FOR OTSUMIGAKI yy Full interiors yy Ceilings yy Commercial reception areas and office entries yy Feature walls yy Entrances, stairwells and halls in residential settings References: 1. Juniper, Andrew: Wabi sabi: The Japanese art of impermanence, Tuttle Publishing 2. Jack @ Tofugu: Wabi-sabi and understanding Japan : a philosophy and aesthetic as world view, April 11, 2016: www.tofugu.com/japan/wabi-sabi 3. Japanese Tea Ceremony Rooms and tearooms: japanese-tea-ceremony.net/teahouses.html

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ROCKCOTE Otsumigaki in Diamantina colour was the canvas chosen for this modern, urban Thai restaurant on the Gold Coast.

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The Natural Artisan

“It had to be modern, urban and quintessentially Thai but different to the overly fancy and busy environments often seen in this type of restaurant,” Brett said.

“The concept was to bring in some of the natural colours and finishes of the country areas of Thailand; render, timber and decorations that would be seen in traditional houses and temples.”

The spicy hues of saffron, cinnamon and ginger make up the colour palette. A splash of gold adds a traditional Thai element while also representing the beaches and sunshine of the Gold Coast.

THE LEMONGRASS THAI RESTAURANT ON THE GOLD COAST OFFERS A DECIDEDLY URBAN TAKE ON THE USUAL THAI RESTAURANT AESTHETIC.

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measured combination of Thai influenced design features, natural render and timber modernise the look and yield a refined yet relaxed vibe.

Situated on the ground floor of the Meriton Apartments, Southport, the restaurant is a bustling lunchtime eatery with a more refined dinner experience in the evening.

Designer Brett Jones took on the challenge of creating a space that was contemporary enough to complement the sophisticated Meriton style, with a relaxed Gold Coast vibe, and an uncluttered Thai feel.

The canvas chosen for the theme was ROCKCOTE Otsumigaki plaster, in Diamantina colour, which adorns the walls and effortlessly flows from the reception area into the narrow dining area.

“The finish needed to be serviceable, good looking and long lasting but something that also carried the earthy natural feeling of rural Thailand,” Brett explained. “The Otsumigaki is a lovely earthy finish that provides warmth and continuity of the look throughout the space.”

The lustre finish Otsumigaki was created by Gold Coast based artisan, Bruce Allen and two of his team members and took about four days to complete, the natural patina of the product revealing itself as his team polished the walls.

Other design elements were careful to respect the value of the rendered finish, with maple ply panels and mirrors alternated in the main space to highlight the stunning walls.

Stylised Thai writing is routed into the timber panels, the words representing the various districts that influence the restaurant’s signature dishes.

The Otsumigaki applied by Bruce Allen and the team at B & H Solid Plastering was chosen for its ability to bring an earthy, natural feel to a contemporary dining experience.

Photography: Ross Eason

Autumn 2017

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by Miranda Corkin

After living in our owner built, self designed, straw-bale and cob house for over a year now, I’m loving the sense of satisfaction which comes after all the hard work. The comfort and joy of living here has gently faded the stressful memories, now just a part of the adventure and the story.

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nother outcome of the project has been my new-found passion for looking into alternative and sustainable building ideas and how new ideas evolve from old. On a recent trip to England, I visited a friend who is renovating his family’s old farmhouse in the South Downs of Hampshire.

The oldest part of the house dates from the mid 15th century with magnificent warped and curvy beams around a galleried main hall. Various additions over the centuries have given it a wonderful eclectic character.

My friend has peeled back the layers and inevitably found the horrors of rotten timbers and collapsed foundations but also treasures such as a well – inside the house – and original wattle and daub in good condition between the frames.

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The wattle and daub fascinated me. It’s such a simple construction for wall infill. I wish I’d used it in our house. Our location in the Blue Mountains of NSW dictated our need for insulation and thermal mass for the external walls. We have some made of earth-rammed tyres, some light straw and some full straw-bale walls.

Internal feature walls are timber framed and filled with cob made from the site soil and chopped straw and then finished with natural renders.

And some are simply timber framed and plasterboard. What that actually means is: yy carpenter-made timber frame; yy manufactured insulation batts: delivered by truck, in plastic wrapping then thrown away;

yy paint: manufactured, tinned, purchased – undercoat and two or three paint coats, brushes and rollers cleaned between each coat, tins thrown away… …not actually that simple and certainly expensive – financially and environmentally.

Wind back the clock six or more centuries: The Black Death plague in England in 1348 killed so many peasants that for the first time, the feudal landowners faced a shortage of labourers to work their land. Those peasants who survived could demand higher wages. For the first time, they had more ‘coin’ to pay for better housing, and so the basic timber framed single-storey cottages with wattle and daub infill became more common.

yy plasterboard: manufactured, delivered by truck, fixed and set by professional plasterer, sanded, dusted; The Natural Artisan

Photography: Miranda Corkin

Wattle is a woven lattice of upright ‘staves’, with pliable sticks called ‘withies’ woven horizontally to create a panel.

The flexible upright staves were set into the frames to give rigid tension. The panel was then ‘daubed’ – smeared over with a mixture of mud, clay, water and a binder such as straw and animal hair. The resulting wall was firm and solid and yet flexible enough to adapt to the movement of the timber framing.

Lime render could seal air gaps and lime wash give weather protection – together with wide overhanging eaves. English woodlands provided abundant timbers for framing – usually oak and elm. Smaller trees, particularly hazel, were coppiced to provide plentiful sticks – and this continues today as a country craft to manage woodlands and make fencing panels.

Autumn 2017

Wind on four centuries and English wattle and daub travelled around the world. Australia’s early European convicts and settlers who arrived in Sydney cove in 1788 had few building skills. Shelter was made simply from whatever local materials they could find and adapt. They found local trees with flexible branches which could be used to make wattles and clay soils used for daub. Bush huts developed using a combination of wattle and daub, bark, and thatch. Lime was made by burning oyster shells for renders.

on sustainability, I haven’t come across any ‘modern’ equivalent of wattle and daub – and only an occasional mention, let alone a revival of the original.

Sticks and mud. They have been used the world over for thousands of years in various forms. And for good reason – the materials are readily available and the methods simple and effective.

The trees they used were mostly the species we now know as various Acacias. That is how our favourite yellow flowered tree got its common name of wattle.

In the UK, there are craftspeople who specialise in restoration of wattle and daub but in Australia, despite so much focus in our building industry

Image supplied by Weald and Downland Living Museum www.wealddown.co.uk

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Tania Hubbard: CHANGING THE WORLD WITH HER HANDS Words: Rebecca Park

Images Tiam Whitfield

Some of the delicious creations crafted by Tania from her Whisk and Bowl Farmhouse Bread Mix.

Tania Hubbard is a champion of empowering people to better care for themselves, a voice that challenges the way we think about food, a grounded woman with a big vision.

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he Sunshine Coast based maker is known for her lunchbox friendly "free from" recipes; and cake, biscuit and bread mixes under the "Whisk and Bowl" brand.

Tania's recipes are crafted to perfection through meticulous research and testing. Yet there's a simplicity to her approach that creates heroes of everyday people trying to manage challenging dietary needs and make food everybody can eat and enjoy.

“If a Mum can buy my mix and bake a beautiful freefrom birthday cake that her son can eat and invite all his soccer mates over and it helps her feel like a more successful Mum, then I have achieved my aim,” she says.

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The evolution of this passionate foodie and selfconfessed obsessive label reader originated with an interest in ingredients at a young age, intensified by her own health issues about ten years ago.

Diagnosed with coeliac disease after almost two years of being sick, Tania had to make some big changes to her life and food choices.

“I was working for the government in Canberra and absolutely exhausted, experiencing bad migraines, bouts of pneumonia, thinning hair, anxiety and aching joints. Finally after being referred to a medical ecologist, and undergoing testing, I found out that I’m coeliac which means I’m intolerant to gluten-containing grains. I also tested intolerant to a lot of other foods, like corn.”

The Natural Artisan

Tania Hubbard has a quirky ability to look at foods from a formulation perspective while maintaining a deep connection with the human aspects of eating.

For someone used to spontaneously traversing local cafés, and delis, buying freshly baked bread, cheese and pastas and eating out at will, the diagnosis was a challenge. Tania’s exploration to find foods that were safe to eat uncovered an astonishing array of “free from” foods sold by supermarkets that were full of additives and had little nutritional value.

“They took gluten out and put all this crap in: flavor enhancers, gums, additives, tons of sugar and salt and really inert highly processed gluten free flours with no fibre, no protein and no taste. You could tell it was scientific food, food from a pharmaceutical kitchen,” Tania explains.

An exasperated Tania was on a mission to discover a way to look at free-from eating with alternative ingredients such as coconut flour.

“I started with coconut flour and the first product I ever developed was a date and cinnamon coconut flour muffin. It was so popular at work that people kept asking me to make more. No one could tell it was free from anything.”

Along the way, Tania discovered a quirky ability to look at foods from a formulation and scientific perspective while maintaining a deep connection with the human aspects of eating which is why her story resonates with so many people.

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Moving to the Sunshine Coast, Tania took a gamble, setting up a stall at Caloundra’s Arthur Street markets, starting with two types of muffin and a loaf of bread, selling out within hours. Before she knew it, there was Australia's first award winning freefrom cafe (Husk and Honey in Nambour, since sold), several cookbooks (Abundance and Gluten free grain free food we love) and a range of prepackaged baking mixes. But it’s her role as a maker that most defines Tania who has a “deep, crazy love affair” with what she does.

“I dream about mixes and formulations. Making something great, making something beautiful and being in an industry where I can make a difference drives me every day.”

Self-belief plays a big role in Tania’s business model, a must when you run a small regionally based business. Cafés around the country selling bread, muffins and sweet treats based on Tania's Whisk and Bowl mixes has been a dream come true.

Whisk and Bowl focuses on "doing a small number of products really well" with three mixes currently available on the website, in IGAs, in health food and whole food stores - Farmhouse Bread Mix, Vegan Ginger Bix, and Tania's infamous Chocolate Chia Cake Mix. Three more mixes are on the way.

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A DIFFERENT WAY OF EATING

LIVE YOUR TRUTH

Tania is decidedly pragmatic when asked about the myriad of diets being touted as paths to health, concerned that the intense debates and constructs around terms such as Paleo, GAPS, Whole30 and other programs limits personal freedom.

“When I started writing Abundance, business was tough and life was tough. Frustrated, I turned on the TV and Ellen came on. I watched her play, laugh and bring joy, with so much passion. Then one day this quote from her dropped into my Instagram: ‘Find out who you are and be that person. That’s what your soul was put on this earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth and everything else will come.’”

“The minute you start categorising and labelling the way you eat, you restrict your capacity to be an explorer, to ask questions and learn. If it helps people to find what works for them and stops there, it’s fine. When it restricts people’s ability to be flexible and they start judging others, it becomes damaging.”

“I approach the way I eat as just a different way of eating. Then it becomes a natural, easy way of life without stress and anxiety around it," she says.

Tania's recipe books are littered with motivational quotes, gentle words of encouragement and positivity for readers and Tania herself. For inspiration, she turns to others who are intensely passionate about what they do and comfortable in their own skin.

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That quote became a lifeline for Tania and appears on the inside front cover of Abundance, with the handprints of her step grandchildren and their mother beneath, a sign to be true to her passion.

"I am a maker and with these hands I make something beautiful. My dream is for Whisk and Bowl to be a household name around Australia.

To grow a company filled with passionate people, and create products that celebrate individual food choices and embrace this way of eating as positive.

A team of people changing the world making great food? Love that!"

The Natural Artisan

"The minute you start categorising and labelling the way you eat, you restrict your capacity to be an explorer, to ask questions and learn."

Tania Hubbard

Autumn 2017

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www.thenaturalartisan.com facebook.com/thenaturalartisan AUTUMN 2017 ISSUE FEATURED ARTISANS: Chris Porep, Gold Coast Render Technologies www.gcrt.com.au

Bruce Allen, B&H Solid Plastering Service www.bhsolidplastering.com.au

Todd Beatson, Byron School of Clay www.bsoc.com.au

Miranda Corkin, MKC Building Design miranda@mkcbuildingdesign.com.au

Ben Dears, Natural Finished Designs www.facebook.com/naturalfinisheddesigns

Tania Hubbard, Whisk and Bowl whiskandbowl.com.au

Gorni Cahani, Render It Oz www.renderitoz.com

Ross Eason, Eason Creative Photography www.easoncreative.com.au

BEN DEARS

NATURAL FINISHED DESIGNS (SE QLD)

BRAD BENTON

4E SYSTEMS (NSW/QLD)

GORAN RUZIC

RUZIC RENDER (GOLD COAST)

JULIEN FANTONE

ALAN HAWKINS

A.H. PLASTERING (NORTH QLD)

KEN LONGSHAW

CUSTOM ART FINISHES (QLD)

ADAM ESSERY

CHRIS POREP

AE INTERIORS (SE QLD)

RYAN LOWSECK

IDEA CREATIONS (AUST-WIDE)

SHAWN DONLEY

MATT JAMIESON

ANGELO ANAGNOSTELLIS VITRUVIAN ARTISAN (NSW, QLD) 24

MARK KENNEDY

SOUTHERN NATURAL FINISHES (AUST-WIDE)

IDEA CREATIONS (AUST-WIDE)

SD PLASTER (BRISBANE)

JARED MCLEOD

RENDER-VATIONS (SE QLD)

GCRT (SE QLD)

PAUL GEACH

CR8IVE SURFACES (ACT)

KATE OGDEN

RENDER X (SE QLD)

MUDMOB (AUST-WIDE)

PETER GRACE

JOHN FERGUSON

PDL GRACE ENTERPRISES (AUST-WIDE) JWC INDUSTRIES (SYDNEY, CENTRAL NSW)

BELINDA FAZEKAS

PLASTACRAFT (AUST-WIDE)

JOSH GLOVER

JA & SL GLOVER (VIC)

GORNI CAHANI

RENDER IT OZ (VICTORIA)

DONOVAN ALLEN

ANTHONY WAKEFIELD

VIVA LIVING HOMES (NSW, VIC, QLD)

RONNY HELOU

PETER KRALJEVIC

CREATIVE WALL SOLUTIONS (SYDNEY)

LUKE RUSSELL

IDEA CREATIONS (AUST-WIDE)

BRUCE ALLEN

DF RENDERING ADELAIDE (SA)

B & H SOLID PLASTERING (QLD)

LUKE RUSSELL

IGOR STAINWALD

TROWEL ART (SE QLD)

CHRIS CARR

CHRIS CARR SOLID PLASTERING (NSW)

SAM VIVERS

TRIPLE A RENDERING (NSW)

(GOLD COAST)

PETER HOLMES

TADELAKT SYDNEY (NSW)

MIKE CORKIN

BLUE MOUNTAINS NATURAL RENDERS

RAY HALL

SO SOLID (QLD)

THE MODERN ARTISAN (SA)

MICHAEL FIORELLI

JOHN GELTCH

ADVANCE PLASTERING (BRISBANE) KUSTOM FINISHES NATURALLY (SE QLD) The Natural Artisan