The Beehive is a craft and urban homesteading collective.

Bound together by a common thread of making things by hand,

this collective was formed in 2011 by members of the arts community in Hamilton, Ontario.

Focusing on  handmade, DIY, and sustainability,

we hope to engage and promote a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity. 

A little bit about our founding members, pictured left to right:

Anna Taylor is a jack of all crafty trades, currently learning tatting, knitting and she hopes to learn to crochet as well. Anna hails from Halifax, and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NSCAD. Anna makes drawings, prints and soft sculptures made with needle felting and lacy fabric. She loves baking loaves.

Thea Haines' occupations and obsessions include drawing and painting, stitching and sewing, embroidery, screen-printing, and natural dyes.  She likes baking pies, canning summer fruit, pickling the veggies she grows herself at the farm, old recipes, vintage mason jars, and walking in the woods, through the city and by the lake. Thea teaches Textile Design at Sheridan College.

Melanie Senko (with baby Margaret) is a mother of three, yet still manages to find time to quilt, craft, grow her own food, preserve and teach others her tricks. Together with her husband she runs the website Crackers, a blog chronicling one family's shift away from the grocery store, which has been syndicated by the National Post.

Jen Anisef is a craft community organizer, having developed grassroots projects that include the Montreal Church of Craft, City of Craft, and the Toronto Craft Alert. Inspired by her Master's thesis on community development and activism through craft she can sometimes be found researching, writing, and moderating panels for organizations such as the Textile Museum and the Ontario Arts and Crafts Councils. Having recently moved to Hamilton (and very much inspired by her fellow Bees) Jen is excited to get back to making more, particularly in the realm of textile design and quilting.

Hollie Pocsai spends her evenings embroidering, learning to quilt, baking and cooking. Along with several friends, she works on a local farm, growing and canning her own food. She loves photography, especially using film as her medium. She is the co-owner of a local handmade & vintage goods shop, White Elephant. She spends what free time she does have dreaming up and planning social events.

Kate Hunter enjoys sewing, knitting, embroidery, baking, canning and novice gardening. She has a Bachelors of Arts and Science, and two years of furniture design in the craft and design program at Sheridan College under her belt. She is currently studying Textile Design, and loving it! You can keep up with her work here.

Jenna Fenwick holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from NSCAD University, with a Major in Textiles. She runs the Jenna Rose textile studio in Hamilton, Ontario where you can usually find her screen printing with her dog Beau by her side. Jenna also crochets, sews, draws, gardens, and generally loves anything crafty.

Elizabeth Simpson keeps herself busy by knitting, sewing, and organizing a weekly knit night at a local bar, The Brain. She loves to experiment in the kitchen, and is particularly proud of her homemade pie crust. When she's not knitting, sewing, or baking, Elizabeth sells her favourite thrift finds on Etsy under the name of Elora Vintage.

Meaghan Makins loves crafts of all kinds especially knitting, sewing and quilting.  She started Little Bird, a children's consignment store with her husband in Hamilton, and most recently they started Eucharist Church, also in Hamilton, with a small group of passionate people working together to love the city in all sorts of ways. You can keep up with her work here.

Courtney Lakin is a serious crafter whose crochet sculptures have been on display at several local art galleries. She is also the woman behind Ravel, a knit accessories line currently available at White Elephant.  Basically, her yarn skills are beyond compare. Courtney spends her summers working on a farm outside of the city, growing her own food and pickling what she can.

Roisin Fagan (not pictured) is a newly minted Hamiltonian, and runs her business bespoke uprising out of a studio on James North. You can find her harvesting local plants to dye fabric with, screenprinting, sewing and embroidering well-crafted goods for the home as well as accessories. Roisin is also a teacher, working at Sheridan College in the fall, and traveling out to ACAD in Calgary for the winter term. Having finally figured out knitting, she now spends her free time making mittens in anticipation of the many that she'll lose this winter.