Speakers and Tutors
Find out more about who’s speaking and teaching at Make Joy.
Susan Byrne
Susan’s love of yarncraft started at the age of seven when her mother taught her how to knit mittens - useful for the chilly winters growing up in Canada! Her skill for cold-weather creativity continued and, by the time she was in her early teens, she learned how to knit Icelandic sweaters on circular needles.
When Susan isn’t knitting you’ll find her spending time by the sea in Cornwall or walking her dog in her local park in Bath. A lady of many useful talents, Susan also has a degree in Physiotherapy and qualifications in Art & Design.
Sophie Heathscott
Sophie (she/her) has been crafting and making all her life, from dressmaking to ceramics. She learned to knit when she was knee-high to a sheep, and after studying Design at Goldsmiths, London, she wove herself into the knitting world. She is passionate about how making creates community and provides a remedy for overconsumption.
Jonna Helin
Jonna is the CEO and Creative Director at Laine Publishing. She founded Laine to bring together beautiful design, honest stories and high-quality craft. What started as a small magazine has grown into an internationally respected publishing house, best known for their knitting books and magazines that reach readers around the world.
Jonna leads Laine’s global strategy, product development and brand vision. She is responsible for overseeing both the creative and business sides of the company, from content and marketing to finance, operations and international distribution.
Jonna believes that publishing can be both bold and beautiful - and that the soft business of creativity takes real strength.
Andrew Kite aka Kitey
An indie dyer from East London, Kitey is a transplanted Aussie who loves crochet, the colour orange, and doodling with yarn.
Knitters’ Question Time
Moderated by Wild & Woolly shop owner, Anna Feldman, Knitters’ Question Time answers questions with five expert knitters. This year’s panelists include: Jonna Helin, Martyn from Knit365 Blog, Wendy Peterson, Helen Reed, and Sylvia Watts-Cherry.
Les Garçons - Vincent & Max
Design duo Max and Vincent co-founded Boutique Les Garçons in Montréal, Canada. Max is a knitwear designer and illustrator and Vincent a designer and hand dyer. Together they blend playful storytelling and clean lines in their gender-inclusive designs.
Helda Panagary
Helda lives in London in a house filled with yarn! Her perfect day involves designing with lots of colour and she finds life so much better when filling the blank spaces with joyous colour. Helda is inspired by many thing and particularly fond of rust, patina, and nature. Inspired by everything, she never goes anywhere without her notebook so that she’s always ready for those eureka moments that often turn into a special design.
Helda is a regular contributor to Inside Crochet magazine and a designer friend for Scheepjes yarn brand.
Helen Reed
Indie dyer Helen is based in East London, where she performs colour alchemy in her garden studio shed for The Wool Kitchen. With extensive experience, Helen creates yarns that you truly want to knit, working with subtle base tones and hints of bright neon pops on luxury bases - creating beautiful assigned pooling, variegated, and speckled yarns that wont’s disappoint.
Sylvia Watts-Cherry
Sylvia is a UK designer who loves bold patterns and striking colours. She learned to knit at an early age and is a prolific knitters. Sylvia’s identity is important to her, and she likes to draw influence from her African heritage and Scottish upbringing in her designs.
Sylvia has had patterns published in Vogue Knitting, Laine, Pom Pom Quarterly, By Hand, Taproot, Knit Now and other publications. Her patterns have also appeared in Warm Hands, a book collaboration between Jeanette Sloan and Kate Davies, and Worsted, a book curated by Aimée Gille of La Bien Aimée, and 52-Weeks of Easy Knits, both published by Laine Magazine.