Specialty Retail

It started with a Bolivian manta sold at the markets around 2008, and the weavers behind it. Lynette and Macarla have been building the thing ever since — Macarla travelling, sitting with artisans and working on designs; Lynette holding the Wollumbin Street shop. Quilts, robes and sarongs, Thai silver, ceramics and home pieces from more than twenty countries, all fair-trade sourced, natural fibres and upcycled materials only. Tuesday to Saturday, mornings certain.

A Queen Street collective in Berry stocking the work of more than fifty South Coast makers under one roof, across original art, homewares, candles, skincare, fashion and jewellery. The jewellery is made in-house, and silversmithing workshops run on the premises most weekends and school holidays. A rotating local-maker marketplace on the main street of a South Coast shopping town.

A good part of the shop belongs to Daylesford and Hepburn makers: Bridget Farmer's prints, Brian Nash, Sandra Broman, Jennifer England's homewares, candles and honey from up the road. You can commission a pet portrait from Val Farrell or a family one from Lydia Kirk. The rest is Jellycat, Warmies and board games. The Christmas wombat window out the front is a town fixture.

Based in Dee Why on the Northern Beaches, this framing shop brings over 35 years of experience to custom and ready-made work of almost any kind. Beyond standard framing, the range extends to Artglass, with a choice of 70% or conservation-grade 99% UV filter glazing designed to protect and enhance artwork. Personalised consultations help match each piece with the right style, from budget options through to high-end finishes.

A gift shop at 259 Rundle Street, Adelaide, open seven days while a flagship space at the Adelaide Central Market is readied to open at the end of the year. Stock runs across greeting cards, jewellery, homewares, candles, kitchen and dining pieces, kids' toys and books, plus pantry goods such as its Spaghetti Dust seasoning blend. Bespoke gift parcels and wrapping are offered.

The original site in this Richmond florist group is given over to outdoor plants and edibles, making it a natural fit for garden-style wedding ceremonies. Venue hire runs alongside the plant offering, though the space closes over summer for event purposes. Enquiries can be made directly for those weighing up garden wedding venues in Melbourne.

A Perry Street store built around Mudgee-region makers: original paintings and photography from local artists, ClayCat pottery, Bryan Ludwick woodwork, Artisan 2850 silver and Indigiearth's native-food range, alongside furniture, candles and homewares. A rotating gallery hangs solo and group shows, and Kim runs hand-building pottery classes in-store. Open since 2013 on Wiradjuri Country in central Mudgee.

Robert Carroll sells hats out of a colonial building on Bank Street and takes it seriously: Laulhere, Hanna, Failsworth, Stetson, Tilley, Brixton. Around them, Pendleton blankets, Proraso and Marvis, pocket knives and brass animals under a heading marked Blacksmith, and a provedore shelf with Molly's Grove olive oil on it. He writes up his makers on the shop blog.

Forty-one years in the same Southport shopping centre, selling fountain pens and doing the trade that goes with them — servicing and repairs at the counter, engraving, monogramming and calligraphy by hand. Montblanc, Montegrappa, Pelikan and Graf von Faber-Castell on the shelves, alongside glass dip pens, quills, bottled ink and Traveler's Company notebooks from Japan. The setting is a level-one mall shopfront. The servicing is the reason to go.

Colin Drewer opened Pencraft in 1968 in the Regent Arcade, repairing writing instruments by hand. It moved into shop 29 of the Adelaide Arcade in 1988 and has stayed a single-subject shop ever since — Montblanc, Pelikan, Pilot, Kaweco, bottled ink, replacement nibs, Florentine leather. The house ink collection was developed with Robert Oster in nine colours. Ownership has changed hands three times in 58 years without the shop changing its mind.

A hamper company on Gray Street, filling its boxes from regional Victorian makers and growers: Chocamama, Bagdad Foods, Two White Ducks. Take theirs or build your own. The larder runs to fresh food you have to collect in person, and there is an olive green tartan blanket in recycled wool made with Grampians Goods Co, which is a long way past putting local produce in a box.

Twenty-five years on St Georges Road, and the reason to go is the circus gear: juggling balls and clubs, rings, poi, diabolo, spinning plates, gym ribbons, and the Coola hoops they make themselves in three sizes and two weights, personalised if you ask. Heico lamps, Mexican crafts and puzzles fill out the rest. If the door is shut, you ring the bell.

This specialty aquatic supplier stocks koi, goldfish, silver perch, rainbow trout, barramundi, marron and yabbies alongside water lilies in hardy, miniature, tropical and night-flowering varieties. Pond building and maintenance needs are well covered, from liners, pumps and filtration to zeolite, gravel and aquaponics kits. Open seven days from 11am to 3pm, it caters to backyard pond owners and aquaponics enthusiasts alike.