Creative Health and the Makeway Lab Project
At Blue Sky View, we are committed to exploring the transformative potential of the arts within health and care settings. Our work in Creative Health, a field that integrates creativity into healthcare to improve wellbeing, recognises that quality of life and self-expression are critical to patient recovery and resilience. The Makeway Lab project is a leading example of this approach.
Conceived and developed by Dr John Waldron through doctoral research, the Makeway Lab is a mobile makerspace designed specifically for hospital environments. The project emerged in response to the psychological and social challenges faced by patients undergoing haemodialysis (HD), a routine and life-altering treatment for chronic kidney disease (CKD), which often results in loss of independence, isolation, and depression.
The Makeway Lab brings digital fabrication tools (such as 3D printers, vinyl cutters, and laser engravers) and collaborative design methods directly into dialysis wards, offering patients the opportunity to engage in creative production during treatment sessions. Activities are tailored to individual interests and abilities, encouraging agency, connection, and self-determination in a setting typically associated with passivity and clinical detachment.
The Makeway Lab was trialled across two Queensland hospitals and facilitated a series of patient-led design workshops, from crafting personalised objects to exploring wearable technology. These engagements not only enhanced the dialysis experience but also redefined the hospital space as one of possibility rather than restriction. Participants reported improved emotional wellbeing, increased confidence, and a stronger sense of community, all key indicators of Creative Health success.
As both a research-led and practice-based initiative, the Makeway Lab has contributed new insights to the field of arts in health. It proposes a scalable, adaptable model for embedding creative capacity into health infrastructure, particularly in settings involving long-term, repetitive care. It also opens up possibilities for creative engagement in other healthcare environments such as oncology, rehabilitation, and mental health services.
At Blue Sky View, we continue to advocate for the integration of Creative Health into institutional frameworks. The Makeway Lab demonstrates how thoughtfully curated, arts-led interventions can humanise clinical systems and empower patients through participation, creativity, and care.
