Tonight’s premiere of Making It Australia had it all; puns, patches, polypropylene and pizazz.
13 of the best creatives in the country descended on the Making It Australia Crafting Barn© (in the non-cattle sense), each hoping to be the last Maker standing and take home the $100,000 prize. But we all know it’s not really about the money. The real prize is a job well done and a nifty embroidered patch.
Hosts Susie Youssef and Harley Breen welcomed our Makers to our expert judges Deborah Riley, a four-time Emmy winning Production Designer of Game Of Thrones, and Benja Harney, a world renowned paper engineer who has worked with the world’s biggest brands.
With three hours on the clock, the first Faster Craft challenge saw Makers create a 3D Secret Beast that best represented their inner animal. With Octopuses (or is it Octopi?) from Stephanie, Rizaldy and Rehana, it was Melburnian architect, Jack, who scored the first coveted patch with his light-up Fruit Bat Disco Prawn, made from neon acrylics and aluminium tubing.
The bar was now set ahead of the main challenge. In the apty titled Master Craft, The Shrining, Makers were given eight hours to create a heritage shire honouring their families, histories and personal stories.
It was Indigenous Artist, Robert, who won with the construction of a traditional shield, beautifully carved out of red gum with burned carvings representing his family’s totems.
The bad news was delivered to Kat, that her modern take on the harp lacked finishing details and similarity with the instrument’s classic shape.
This is the part where we normally say, ‘hopefuls pack their bags and are sent home’, but Susie and Harley had other plans, inviting Kat to hang out in their comedy shack instead!
Tomorrow night on Making It Australia, we go back in time as Makers revisit their childhood, constructing their own little Happy Place.
