Derbyshire Makes | Women Who Make

Women Who Make

What is Women Who Make?

Supporting creativity, collaboration and connections

Launched on International Women’s Day, Saturday 8 March 2025, Women Who Make is a year-round programme of gatherings celebrating artists, makers, designers and activists who identify as women. The programme includes talks, guided walks and studio visits, all aimed at supporting creativity, collaboration and connections.

Women Who Make is a platform for sharing skills, insights and stories. We will be highlighting our diverse and talented community of Women Who Make artists and makers over the festival period.

Creative Director Claire Tymon is working with our team of curators to shape the programme: Sophie Gresswell, Samantha Whelan and Stephanie Walsh.

Sophie is an artist, poet and arts practitioner exploring interconnected ‘living’ heritage. She aims to encourage us in sitting with unknowns and finding space for a deeper sense of connection which transcends our individual lifespan, and amplifies the way our human stories intersect over generations, through cultures and between historical narratives to bring us to the current moment in time, and inform the very people we are today.

Samantha is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Platform Thirty1, a women-led organisation based in Derbyshire. They use creativity and the arts to work on generating agency and power, so that those they work with can tackle any societal, environmental, political, personal or cultural problem that is important and impactful to them, their family and/or their community.

Steph has worked within the cultural sector in Derbyshire for over 20 years. Currently in post as Senior Economic Development Officer at DCC, with a remit for culture, tourism and international links. Steph is a project manager for Derbyshire Makes and manages the international partnership between Derbyshire and Toyota City in Japan. Steph is also a photographer, creative practitioner, workshop lead and guided walk facilitator with a passion for arts, wellbeing and nature connection.

Mixed race woman with her hair tied back with a bandana wearing a white shirt with drawings of people's heads standing in front of a large collage portrait of a woman and some shelves full of pots
Sophie Gresswell
White woman wearing a green t-shirt explains her artwork to a woman with her back to the camera with long hair, in front of a table
Haarlem Studios. Photo Emma Croman
White woman with wavy brown bobbed hair, smiling wearing a green necklace over a burgundy top
Samantha Whelan
Group of women sat around a large rectangular table doing embroidery using wooden hoop frames. The table is covered in materials
Photo Sue Reddish
Group of people stood round a table sewing with different types of fabric
Photo Sue Reddish
Black and white headshot of a white woman smiling at the camera, wearing her hair tied back by a patterned headband
Stephanie Walsh
White, female artist wearing a turban standing in front of walls of paintings, handing over a wrapped artwork to a woman carrying a green bag over her shoulder
Haarlem Studios. Photo Will Slater
Woman in a brightly coloured dress sat in a booth surrounded by a rack of cards, paintings on the wall and a shelf unit full of bits and bobs
Haarlem Open Studios. Photo Emma Croman
Mixed race woman with her hair tied back with a bandana wearing a white shirt with drawings of people's heads standing in front of a large collage portrait of a woman and some shelves full of pots
Sophie Gresswell
White woman wearing a green t-shirt explains her artwork to a woman with her back to the camera with long hair, in front of a table
Haarlem Studios. Photo Emma Croman
White woman with wavy brown bobbed hair, smiling wearing a green necklace over a burgundy top
Samantha Whelan
Group of women sat around a large rectangular table doing embroidery using wooden hoop frames. The table is covered in materials
Photo Sue Reddish
Group of people stood round a table sewing with different types of fabric
Photo Sue Reddish
Black and white headshot of a white woman smiling at the camera, wearing her hair tied back by a patterned headband
Stephanie Walsh
White, female artist wearing a turban standing in front of walls of paintings, handing over a wrapped artwork to a woman carrying a green bag over her shoulder
Haarlem Studios. Photo Will Slater
Woman in a brightly coloured dress sat in a booth surrounded by a rack of cards, paintings on the wall and a shelf unit full of bits and bobs
Haarlem Open Studios. Photo Emma Croman

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Derbyshire Makes Festival Derbyshire 29 03 25 Richard Tymon 139
Derbyshire Makes Festival Chesterfield. Photo Richard Tymon

A Patchwork of Dreams – A Women-Led Creative Conversation

We kicked off our Women Who Make talks series earlier this year.

The first talk was hosted by Derbyshire Makes Creative Director, Claire Tymon, alongside public art curator Cathy Newbery, lead artist Sue Reddish and Pip Jenkins, Design Director at John Smedley. The discussion explored the vital role of women in shaping this project and the countless women whose craftswomanship has historically been the backbone of the textile industry.

You can watch the discussion below:

Connecting with Nature Through Art and Conversation

Next in our Women Who Make talks series, Claire Tymon, Creative Director of Derbyshire Makes chaired a discussion with Cora Glasser of Glassball Studio (lead artist for MAKE Room), Feimatta Conteh (Sustainability Manager at Arts Council England), and Lucy Bird (dancer, facilitator, healer, and sustainability professional).

They explored our connections to nature, the powerful role art and culture play in deepening these relationships, and the unique contributions women make in the world of art, craft, and sustainability.

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