Research Blog

• Project featured in Oral History JournalOctober 11, 2022
  Makers, Manufacturers & Designers was featured in the Oral History Journal‘s survey of international projects. Read the project summary here.
• Research Assistant requiredAugust 25, 2022
  To assist with Jesse Adams Stein’s DECRA project, Makers, Manufacturers & Designers – Connecting Histories Applications are now closed. Hours: This is flexible but ideally 7 to 14 hours per week, September 2022 – September 2023, with potential for further extension. Rate: UTS Professional Casual HEW 5 Step 1055 (approx. $55 p/h) Tasks: Preferable capacities: […]
• Do we still need to make things?June 23, 2022
  I was recently interviewed by Garland Magazine about my book Industrial Craft in Australia, see the article here, and the podcast here.
• Rethinking ‘Made in Australia’June 23, 2022
  I was recently interviewed by UTS’ Jaki Middleton about my research and the Makers, Manufacturers & Designers project. The interview is reproduced below, original at this link. What are your areas of expertise? I’m a design researcher and oral historian and I specialise in the less recognised, or less fashionable areas of material practice and […]
• All Hands on Deck 2023June 2, 2022
  As part of this DECRA project, I am collaborating with Dr Chantel Carr to produce a new cross-disciplinary symposium (and edited book): All Hands on Deck: Work, skill and material production at a time of human and environmental calamity It will be held on 19-21 July 2023 at the Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building, […]
• Aligning manufacturing policy with ‘green economy’ policy: This goal needs more than high visMay 6, 2022
  Another short piece by Jesse Adams Stein – joining historical manufacturing research with present issues in the lead-up to the 2022 federal election in Australia
• That buzz term “Advanced Manufacturing”, what should it really mean?April 28, 2022
  Here’s a recent article (loosely based on Jesse Adams Stein’s book Industrial Craft in Australia) about how we need to rethink Australian manufacturing policy, and why it still matters:
• 8 interviews complete …April 12, 2022
  Jesse and Nikki are continuing our oral history interviewing blitz. It is absorbing and rewarding work. At this stage, we think we will end up doing more than the original planned 12 interviews (maybe 16?), because there are so many diverse, fascinating stories out there. Oral history is an inherently slow process: the interviews are […]
• Interviews have begun!November 30, 2021
  Jesse Adams Stein and Nikki Henningham have (respectively) begun to undertake oral history interviews for the Makers, Manufacturers & Designers Oral History Project, to be collected with the National Library of Australia. At the time of writing (18/3/22), we have completed four interviews, with several more scheduled for the coming months. Already, we can see […]