“Where progressive artisans create earthly treasures.”
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That is the focus of a new tourism campaign titled Made of Ballarat.
While Visit Ballarat is working to redefine the Ballarat to visitors as a creative city, the region's creatives are practicing their craft and capturing the attention of both visitors and residents through the process and product.
Visit Ballarat’s chief executive says Made of Ballarat is designed to engage Melbourne visitors, but also create a sense of pride by telling the stories of the city’s creators.
The Courier has had the pleasure of helping tell the stories of some of the region’s diverse artisans and creators; from beekeepers to pastry chefs, ceramicists to truffle growers, furniture makers and distillers.
You can find the collection of stories below and follow the links to their profiles.
Ruby Pilven
It is almost as though ceramics is in Ruby Pilven’s blood.
She grew up in the family’s Smythes Creek home where art was a normal part of life.
Now she is making pieces of ceramic art for people to cherish in their homes and jewelry with her signature colour pop loved by people in Ballarat and afar.
Mick Nunn
Three and a half years ago Mick Nunn set up Salt Kitchen Charcuterie in Delacombe, harnessing his skills and passion for charcuterie.
As an experienced chef, he had realised making charcuterie by hand was what he loved doing best in the kitchen.
He now supplies to a number of Ballarat restaurants as well as some of the best in Melbourne.
Owen Latta
Talented young winemakers may be a rare find, but Ballarat does not have to look far to find Australia’s best.
Owen Latta from Eastern Peake Vineyard and Winery in Coghills Creek was awarded Australia’s Young Winemaker of the Year.
It is a recognition of his natural wine making philosophy after the growing success of an innovative new label.
Paul and Marie Williams
Walk into this French patisserie and boulangerie in Creswick and you will find traditional pastries now hard to come by in France.
Le Peche Gourmand’s pastries are renowned in Creswick and beyond and are often sold out by the afternoon.
But owners Paul and Marie William’s say they have no desire to sway from their ‘small is best’ attitude and old, classical French style.
Scott Denno and Amanda Collins
Six years ago Scott Denno and Amanda Collins found themselves looking after their first bee hive.
Now they are managing more than 50 in backyards around Ballarat.
And they are seeing an increasing interest in beekeeping and more people wanting to host a hive in their backyard.
Andres and Lynette Haas
Becoming truffle growers was a moment of impulsivity for Andres and Lynette Haas.
It was 2004 when they first heard about truffles. They read an article in The Age about a truffle grower in Tasmania and fell in love with the idea.
Two years later they had bought the farm in Wattle Flat and started Black Cat Truffles.
Chris Pratt and Scott Wilson-Browne
Kilderkin Distillery owners Chris Pratt and Scott Wilson-Browne are proud to continue Ballarat’s long history of distilling.
They run the first distillery to operate in Ballarat since the 1930s.
The difference with Kilderkin’s products, Pratt hopes, is that every bottle of gin tells a story of its production.
Colin Rowe and Mick Dando
All around Australia creators are embracing a resurging interest in ‘lost trades’.
At home at Ballarat’s goldrush museum, it is people like Colin Rowe and Mick Dando who are ensuring the knowledge of past creators is never lost.
They practice coach building, wheelwrighting, belt making and harness making.
Prue Simmons
When Prue Simmons sits at the loom she can’t keep the smile off her face.
She says it is a meditative motion of pure creative pleasure.
Within 10 minutes at the loom she has created quite a length of colourful, textured cloth.
The Clunes creative teaches and practices a Japanese form of weaving called SAORI and is one of only three teachers trained to teach the craft in Australia.
Brigid Corcoron
Brigid Corcoron’s passion for Australian bush foods developed more than six years ago when she realised they were so rarely used.
Now she wants to help more people use bush foods in their cooking at home.
Saltbush Kitchen produces a line of syrups, salts and spices showcasing Australian bush foods like pepperberry, lemon myrtle, strawberry gum, wattleseed and saltbush.
Janine Wilson and Leanne Wills
Janine Wilson and Leanne Wills are making brightly coloured socks that are hand cranked on a 114-year-old sock machine.
They are creating a connection to a time past when sock making was the biggest industry in Clunes.
Each pair of socks takes about an hour and a half to make, including the hand cranking and dyeing process.
Pitcha Makin Fellas
Walk into the Pitcha Makin Fellas studio in the Old Post Office building on Lydiard Street and you will be hit with colour, passion, humour and a warm welcome.
The group is reviving the story of Australia’s First Peoples and expressing their personal history through their own contemporary version of Aboriginal art, mainly using techniques of stamping.
When the fellas first got together five years ago and created their first piece of vibrant art, they had no idea what was to come.
Peter de Deugd
Timmermans is not your typical furniture showroom.
Slabs are on display for customers to see the wood in person before they commission an item to be made.
Designer and craftsman Peter de Deugd sits at a table made from timber he salvaged, milled, dried, machined, designed and finished with his own hands.
It is this natural process and appealing design that attracts visitors to the showroom, most commonly from Melbourne and Ballarat but from as far as Sydney and Adelaide on their way through to the city.
Liam Downes
The chef behind one of Ballarat’s newest culinary hotspots has been awarded a top regional dining accolade.
Moon and Mountain executive chef Liam Downes won the Golden Plate Award for best chef.
And people are coming in droves for his food.
The Melbourne style atmosphere and modern take on Asian food at Moon and Mountain has set a new standard for the city’s affordable eateries.
Derek Boath
The chef behind fine dining outfit Underbar is preparing for a new event set to entice Melbourne food and wine lovers to taste Ballarat’s culinary treasures.
Derek Boath will cook for dozens as part of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s regional Crawl n Bite series held in Ballarat.
Underbar was hatted for the first time in the prestigious Good Food Guide 2019 Awards.
The Doveton Street restaurant holds twelve seats and only two sittings per week, with dinners booked out a month in advance.
Duncan McHarg
Clunes bootmaker Duncan McHarg is one of only two people in the world (that he knows of) who are creating shoes entirely by hand, using ‘old-world’ methods and techniques.
A pair of his boots can take from 100 hours to more than 400 hours to create, hence the price tag that can be up to five figures.
But the shoes last indefinitely.
And people want them.