Makers gonna make: Angela D’Alton and Renée Baker on supporting Australia’s creative community
When the algorithm gods reward dance trends over hand-thrown ceramics, and building a website feels more stressful than a tax return, where’s a maker to turn? Enter the Australian Makers Directory – the vibrant new online home for creatives who craft with their hands, not hashtags. For Angela D’Alton and Renée Baker, championing Australian makers isn’t just a job – it’s been their life’s work. The duo have been working with the creative community since 2007, and are now approaching a decade in business together as D’Alton Baker Productions, which they founded in late 2016. Through their websites, mentoring programs, and their Australian Makers Directory, they’ve become the go-to support system for makers navigating the often overwhelming world of small business. Their latest venture, Make Good Things Happen – The Podcast, has added another dimension to their mission: making business feel less daunting and more fun, one cheeky chat at a time. We caught up with Angela and Renée to find out more about their work, their wins, and the vulnerable moments that remind them to keep going.
PORTRAITS MAJA BASKA
Tell us a bit about yourselves and your (extensive!) backgrounds!
Angela: I’ve spent 35 years across myriad industries like IT, communications and training – always coming back to supporting creative makers and communities. I started Leeloo.com.au in 2007 to spotlight emerging Australian artists and designers, and IN 2011 that led me to a leadership role at Etsy as Community Manager responsible for seller support and education. I’ve also worked as Communications Manager for the Garage Sale Trail, and The Finders Keepers Markets, honing my skills in PR, copywriting and digital strategy.
Renée: I trained as an art teacher at Sydney’s College of Fine Arts in 2005, and started out as a pencil illustrator. I fell into the maker scene and met Angela through Leeloo and loved the sense of community! I’ve worked as a freelance illustrator and in website design, taking on multiple projects with stylists like Jason Grant and Megan Morton, and ended up working in content creation and digital strategy for Etsy and The Finders Keepers, where I helped grow their online audiences and told the stories behind the makers. Angela’s always been a mentor to me, and we just clicked working together.
What prompted the move to work together as D’Alton Baker Productions?
This distinctly felt like a natural progression of the work that we had already established as the basis of our careers; supporting artists, encouraging makers and using personal knowledge of industry and experience in business to further the community in its own growth. We knew we worked well together as partners because we’d done so much work together. Having forged a strong friendship with one another, and knowing that we worked better in tandem, D’Alton Baker Productions was formed to provide an outlet for us to continue our mission and passion.
Since 2016, we have not only been mentoring makers towards sole-trader success, we’ve been building beautiful websites for the creative community, helping fledgling artists and emerging makers to establish their digital presence in a meaningful way.
Anyone who tries to sell you a secret single formula for making this work doesn’t know you. There is no one way to do this.
ABOVE: ANGELA D’ALTON
How did ‘Make Good Things Happen’ come about?
Like for many industries, 2020 threw a major spanner in the works for the creative community, which relied heavily on in-person events like markets and exhibitions. We’d been toying with the idea of establishing an online community for people to connect, where educational resources could be accessed easily and peers could support each other, and decided the time was nigh! We connected with Mel Baxter (Moonshine Madness) to create our distinct branding, built a website, and Make Good Things Happen was born! It became a beacon of hope to many of us, a space for us to connect, laugh, and even cry.
And Make Good Things Happen now has a podcast! What can listeners expect?
We aim to make business feel less daunting and more fun for Australian makers. We know that running a small business can sometimes feel isolating and overwhelming, which is why we wanted to create a moment for makers to have a laugh, learn, and feel like they’re connected to their community wherever they are. Expect a relaxed, interesting, cheeky chat filled with friendly hints and expert tips about the news, influences and trends affecting makers in business in Australia.
As you well know, one does not simply start a podcast – what have you learned while building it?
We rarely share our struggles publicly, but this feels like an appropriate moment of vulnerability to reinforce that even we stick by the mantra we encourage in our community: ‘Keep going’. We’ve had to spend a lot of thinking, energy and resources on deciding whether or not we would continue with the podcast at all, after having some major technical struggles with older equipment. But the podcast has seen some early success – it’s actually popular and not doing too badly, thanks very much! So we decided to back ourselves, invest in proper equipment, and keep going. We’ve recently recorded a bonus episode featuring an interview with Morag Myerscough about the Sunnyside project in Ballarat, and after that we’ll be returning to our regularly scheduled episodes. Sometimes the best business advice is the simplest: believe in what you’re doing and keep going.
ABOVE: RENÉE BAKER
Can you tell us a bit more about your latest venture, the Australian Makers Directory?
Angela moved to Ballarat, Wadawurrung Country in late 2022, and her new-found knowledge of the challenges faced by regional makers combined with meeting hobbyists finding their business mojo later in life made it clear that not all of our community has the capacity or access to build a website. In addition, algorithms are playing fast and loose with a fragile industry that relies heavily on engagement and reach to find their customers. Content creators are often prioritised over the creators of gorgeous, tangible things, so the Australian Makers Directory offers a reliable and relevant place to be found. Makers can showcase their work in a space built just for them, designed to celebrate craftsmanship, foster connections, and attract the right kind of attention. Oh, and it’s free to join!
If you could give one tip to new makers, what would it be?
Keep your mind curious and RESEARCH! It’s not sexy, but it’s essential. Know your target market, understand your pricing strategy, plan your business and test your products, have a clear and thorough picture of your competitors – doing this is the difference between an expensive hobby and a thriving maker-based business. This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, this is a choice for the long-term lifestyle you want to lead. Anyone who tries to sell you a secret single formula for making this work doesn’t know you. There is no one way to do this. The best way to do this is YOUR way.
