Women Who Make

This year, Women Who Make is bringing women together across Derbyshire and beyond through creative walks, webinars, workshops, festivals, installations and collective making.

The programme has included four online conversations exploring how women gather, walk, create and lead, alongside intimate creative walks offering women time to slow down, connect with nature and experience Derbyshire’s landscapes together.

A highlight of the year was the Women Who Make Festival at Hardwick Hall. Inspired by Bess of Hardwick and the theme of women’s influence and empowerment, the festival celebrated the many ways women create, lead, shape places and bring about change.

Women Who Make will return to Masson Mills on Saturday 10 October for another free festival, filled with creativity, inspiring women, hands-on making and ideas for a more sustainable future.

Inspired by World Circular Textiles Day, the festival will explore the full life of textiles – from how fibres are grown and materials are made to how they can be repaired, reused and reimagined. Through talks, exhibitions, workshops, walks, demonstrations, marketplaces, music and collective making, it will connect Masson Mills’ remarkable textile heritage with new ideas for a more sustainable and circular future.

Four conversations exploring the ideas, experiences and practices shaping women’s creative lives and work.

Women Who Gather
A conversation about bringing women together, creating welcoming spaces and the power of gathering through creativity.

Women Who Walk
Exploring walking as a creative, social and reflective practice, and the connections formed between women, place and landscape.

Making as Soft Power
A conversation about creativity as a form of influence, resistance and change, and the often-unseen power held within making.

Where Women Create
Exploring the spaces in which women make and create, from studios and shared places to homes, communities and landscapes.

Watch the conversations that launched Women Who Make in 2025.

We kicked off our Women Who Make talks series in 2025.

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:

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.