About Us
From Day Dreams to Big Things
Sitting together at Rose Street Artist Market back in 2009, Rhain and I knew that this community was the one we wanted to surround ourselves with, creatives and makers! We also knew that we wanted OUT of the city and the rat race and to live a more balanced life. Ha!
A year later we bought 40 acres in Kyneton and starting looking at how we could make our dream space in the region. It took another 7 years of taking our brands to craft markets, trade fairs and so many paper cranes but we got our ducks in a row and in April 2017 we opened The Old Auction House. (Jo hasn’t managed to get real ducks yet…but our staff do!)
The Old Auction House is about community, it is about breaking down barriers and creating a space where everyone feels welcome. It is about giving opportunities to small Australian makers, creatives and artists and helping them grow. It’s about being the home away from home where you can be yourself and leave your cares behind for a few minutes, hours, or even days, while you soak up the creative juices and recharge.
We joke that The Old Auction House is all the things; being Queer, Female, Disabled, and Neurodiverse Owned and Operated. We celebrate diversity because we are part of the “diversity”.
It means we do things differently because we think differently; of course we have to be wheelchair accessible, otherwise Jo can’t access the space, of course we have space to have a quiet moment because sensory overwhelm is real, and non-gendered bathrooms were a no brainer!
We hope that you feel welcome, safe, and catered for in our creative hub, while being inspired and refreshed!
~ Jo & Rhain DiPilla
We looked at so many buildings from Gisborne to Malmsbury to house our creative hub, but Rhain kept coming back to a derelict ¼ acre under-roof building at the wrong end of Kyneton that wasn’t even for sale, it was only for lease.
After several family meetings, a business plan and sketches where Rhain just kept saying “Trust me, I can see it!” we got a builder to come and look at the building and he said, “Don’t buy it, it is a disaster. But if you do, please let me help fix it!”
Two months later the family had bought 52-56 Mollison Street and the Builder was booked in to start work alongside Rhain and Ettore (and every person that could be convinced to help) in a 6 month renovation of the front half of the building!
Rhain moved the family business, Leadlight By Ettore into the front studio, and with a budget of only $2k outfitted and stocked the shop! The shop was filled with 25 handmade brands from all the markets we used to work and stock was displayed on the furniture that had been abandoned by previous tenants or made out of pallet wood.
Two months later the gallery and other three studios were finished and our first lot of artists moved in. Finally 12 months later the back teaching space was finished making it so that ½ of our building is habitable! But if you know someone looking for a Studio we would love to chat as a little birdie says the back half of the building is looking for a tenant to fill it with crafty goodness once the building is made watertight and had the ivy removed…aren’t indoor plants hip at the moment?!?
“Craft isn’t something that we do, it truly is who both Rhain and I are. Since kindergarten both of us ran head first to the craft table, Rhain showed instant affinity and skill, while I just had enthusiasm and curiosity!”
- Jo
Rhain’s Journey to The Old Auction House
Rhain started her journey to running a craft precinct as a two year old as she ‘helped’ her dad set up his stall and by the time she was seven she was working on other stall holders stalls for pocket money.
Growing up without a television Rhain filled her evenings and weekends creating, being from the country this meant entering the local show and she even won her section at The Royal Melbourne Show one year!
As she became a teenager her love for art merged with her interest in computers and she discovered the early versions of Photoshop and Bryce 3D and just how far she could push her Apple G3.
Starting out as just getting back into Art and different crafts at home, then craft markets on the weekend before partnering with her father’s business of art glass and making pieces to take alongside our brands at markets and trade fairs.
Which takes us back to the origins of The Old Auction House.
Rhain started doing graphic design and building websites for her spending money, through the end of highschool. With a desire to see where her family came from Rhain did a exchange program after high school and went and explored Italy for 12 months before returning to Australia and moving to the Big Smoke for university. Rhain got her double degree in Arts and Business, while getting a real education in life living in the heart of Collingwood.
Rhain didn’t like the corporate world and decided to work in IT in a school full-time while she got another degree in Archaeology, when life intervened and she met Jo. With an anchor now in Australia, and a changing trajectory Archaeology got put to the side and craft started taking over Rhain’s life again.
Each section of The Old Auction House was envisioned after what we couldn’t find in the region that we wished existed.
The Craft Shop was only logical to us, we had a creative hub (and a slight personal crafting addiction) so we needed craft supplies. Once people came into the space and saw all the amazing handmade products, got inspired by the art in the gallery, or got their creative juices going in a workshop they wanted to be able to buy the supplies to continue at home.
We thought really hard about what kind of art supplies we wanted to stock and decided we didn’t want to stock ‘Art Supplies’ we wanted to sell ‘Craft Supplies’! So often Craft is seen as lesser than Art and that is something we vehemently disagree with and we wanted to stock affordable high quality craft supplies for makers and creatives.
This means we stock textile paints, acid dyes, polymer clay, printmaking supplies, scrapbooking supplies, as well watercolours, acrylic paints, graphite and pastels that you expect to find in an Art Store.
The other decision we made was to only stock products that we know how to use and explain to customers, so that we know we are selling you the right product the first time.
The Studios were planned to be spaces where artists could come and work and hold workshops and to bring regional artists out of isolated sheds and garages around the Macedon Ranges. In the exact way it has done for Leadlight By Ettore.
Over the years we have had some wonderful artists fill our studios and developed friendships and partnerships that will last a lifetime but with Covid like many things they came to a stop and we have chosen to fill the studio with our Kid’s Craft Party rooms and Kyneton Craftery alongside our teaching studio for visiting artists.
But if you know someone looking for a Studio we would love to chat as a little birdie says the back half of the building is looking for a tenant to fill it with crafty goodness!
The Gift Shop was our dream and what really started it all. After years of exhibiting at craft markets and trying to get our small handmade brands into stores, we wanted to open an Australian handmade market, that was open 7 days without the need for artists to be there. Where artists would never have to set up a marquee or battle the weather, that didn’t require us to rent shop space, make artists man the store and that was full of fellow small Australian handmade brands, not trash and treasure.
We spend a ridiculous amount of time searching for small Australian makers of everything. From bibs and baby toys, to leather belts and cufflinks, we have a huge range of earrings in every style, candles and soaps. All made to the highest standard, with sustainable and eco-conscious materials by creatives in Australia.
We know every one of our 120+ makers, we know that we are supporting small Australian makers with every sale. As most of our makers are from regional Australia we also know we are putting money back into Australian communities not big corporations and keeping dreams alive.
The Galleries were partially a matter of space, the building is ¼ acre under roof with the most glorious windows into the street and it only made sense to us that we should create a space for the artists, makers and crafters to be able to exhibit their works.
We wanted to create a space where emerging and mid-career artists could exhibit their works, where they could get experience in exhibiting in a relaxed and welcoming environment.
Straight away we wanted to ensure that exhibiting was accessible to all artists so we created our group shows where 3-10 artists exhibit under one of our themes, and we also reserve at least one show a year for a group or artist that is raising awareness of a social or community need.
Thank You for Supporting Our Family and We Hope to See You Soon!
Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the Taungurung people as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live, and upon which our creative hub is located. We acknowledges the value, diversity and integrity of Aboriginal art, culture and expression as an integral part of Australian heritage and we recognise their continued connection with the land, water and community. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.