Local Making is a neighbourhood-scaled initiative fostering creative, resourceful, zero-waste living and making. We cultivate resilient communities of makers rather than consumers who see potential in discarded materials. Through practices of creative making, frugal innovation, reuse and repair, they transform waste into useful objects and heirlooms while reconsidering consumer choices.

We focus on e-waste, the fastest-growing waste stream in Auckland, alongside other hard or impossible to recycle materials including textiles. Our activities include public artist / designer residencies, hands-on workshops, hackathons, design competitions, exhibitions, and an online platform sharing case studies and guides.

We operate at the top of the waste hierarchy, offering creative and joyful ways to transform waste into useful things, rather than burying it or buying new. Beyond material transformation, we foster new ways of seeing, thinking, and designing. By engaging with discarded materials, participants develop resourceful approaches that extend into work, business, and daily life. This mindset shifts thinking from linear consumption to circular, regenerative solutions.

Our activities cater to diverse communities, from children to adults, and encourage culturally diverse approaches to making. We operate in accessible locations such as community centers, community recycling centers, libraries, eco-hubs, hackerspaces, markets, and festivals.

We can’t recycle or creatively transform all of the waste. We must stem the flow. By cultivating resourceful practices, joyful making, and inquisitive thinking, we embrace this challenge with both fun and seriousness. These skills and this mindset equip us with the know-how and innovative thinking needed now and for future generations, empowering us to face the complex challenges ahead.

Contact

Email: hello@localmaking.org

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Humans

Adam Ben-Dror is an artist-inventor currently teaching design at Waipapa Taumata Rau the University of Auckland. He recently turned a toy Lamborghini into a tele-presence robot which roamed around the city making friends. Collaborating with Xin they made two films on inter-species kinship within Te Whanganui-a-tara and Te Awa Kairangi for the Dowse Art Museum. Adam studied fine arts at the University of Auckland, design at Victoria University Wellington and robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.

Xin Cheng is an artist and researcher and sometimes design teacher. She has been researching everyday resourcefulness around the earth since 2007. Recently she has been recording the sound of the dance between wind and trees. Previously she was a co-director of the artist-run space RM in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Xin studied social design at Hamburg University of Fine Arts, Germany, and ecology, psychology and fine arts at The University of Auckland.

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