Like big business, small business and entrepreneurs, Makers are job creators.

In 2016, Knoxville was dubbed The Maker City by Etsy at the very first Maker Summit. The honor acknowledged our city’s community of talented, ambitious and resourceful makers, as well as efforts by the City of Knoxville -- through the Mayor's Maker Council -- and Knoxville Entrepreneur Center to respond to makers' needs.

Since then, the city’s Makers community has had a major growth spurt, with the support of KEC, the City of Knoxville, and many devoted customers. 

In September 2022, a record number of attendees (276) registered for the three-day Maker Summit. And in peak holiday season of November and December, Maker Marketplaces hosted 56 makers making more than $2,400 in sales. 

If there’s a handmade thing on your wish list, you can probably find it right here in the Maker City Directory. And between brick-and-mortar shops, pop-up shops and markets of all kinds, there have never been more opportunities to buy from makers in Knoxville.

Courtney Hendricks, Director of Maker Initiatives at KEC, shared a list of just a few of the Knoxville Makers making moves. 

"All of these makers have been involved in the initiative, have grown successful, continue to scale their businesses," Hendricks says. "They're bringing jobs to the area and make a great name for Knoxville."

• "Insanely talented woodworker" Alex Jaynes (A. Jaynes Woodworks) is a founder of Able Trade, a space that started out as a 20,000-square-foot warehouse in the backside of Jackson Terminal and is now completely built out as a space for makers to work as well as share tools and host workshops.
  
  Hendricks says Able Trade is at capacity with makers, some of whom have moved here from Chicago, Austin -- all over the country.
  
  "They are choosing Knoxville because of this resource," she says "They can move in and start working right away. Many of the members there collaborate on jobs and projects together and hire additional help."


• Bailey Foster operates Real Good Kitchen, a shared-use commercial kitchen that has been the starting point of several local food and craft businesses that have since scaled up to operate their own kitchens or operations.


• Victoria Walsh moved to Knoxville because it was the Maker City. She runs Craft Appalachia, a business that connects makers to venues -- like Knoxville's ubiquitous breweries -- for workshops, benefiting both the maker and the venue.


• John Phillips won his appearance on History Channel's Forged in Fire and received kudos from his many Knoxville friends and seemed to rocket into fame. The founder of Phillips Forged and Primeaux is involved in all things Maker City and KEC, and as his business continues to grow, he has hired on more employees.