Sydney local Benja Harney is fast becoming the Australian sensei of paper engineering. His one-man operation ‘Paperform’ has risen from the humble kitchen table to create works for brands such as Hermes, Smirnoff, Telstra, McDonalds, Comm Bank, Yahoo and Kylie Minogue to name a few.

But what on earth is a Paper Engineer I hear you ask?

First off, it’s not origami, as was my first impression. While origami is a wonderful and logical entry point, paper engineering, as the name suggests is about approaching paper in a much more technical manner. Not only does it include paper sculpture but also the design and engineering of pop-up books, a beautiful, difficult and unfortunately fading art form.

I met Benja for the first time a few years ago while shooting for a design show. At that time he was in his very early years and working out of a shoe box space in Surry Hills that barely accommodated our crew of two. Although small, I clearly remember it being a magical experience to behold the walls packed to the ceiling with his intricate and colourful paper creations.

Since then Benja has jumped down the road to a much larger creative space filled with all manner of other designers from a range of disciplines. The type of warehouse creative community you always see in NYC photo blogs and want to be apart of. His work too has expanded, fulfilling one of his life’s goals last year when he had his first mass produced pop-up book commissioned, created and delivered for Kylie Minogue’s Goddess tour.

While talking with Benja I was struck by his enthusiasm for everything that he does. For the past six years he has been juggling his paper engineering with his full time job designing layouts and eventually covers for the Sunday Telegraph in Sydney. A role that I declared must get pretty repetitive at times. He shrugged off the repetition with the value he had gained in learning the ins and outs of the media game, the wonderful immediacy of working in the news and the welcome pressure of working to tight deadlines. I thought it was such a great attitude and one I hope to pull into my own life. Six years of seven days a week, 12 to 16 hour days and a positive attitude to boot.

It comes as no surprise to me then that all this hard work has lead Benja to his current position. A few weeks ago he submitted his letter of resignation and is about to embark on Paperform full time. I wish him all the best, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

From an outside perspective Graz, DJ / Sunglass Designer, would appear to have done things the hard way, but ask him yourself and he’ll tell you he’s simply “responded to the need of the time”.

At age 15 an “undesirable situation” forced him to leave home and school but rather than fall into a life of mediocrity, he was determined to do something more. Blessed with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, an eye for design and a deep passion for music, he started his first business making graffiti / dance culture T-Shirts aged 17, before spotting a hole in the boutique sunglasses market.

What followed was years of heartbreaking business relationships, being ripped off and starting from scratch time and time again. All the while relying on his music to pay the bills. The end result, however, is an amazing career that has made its mark with brands such as AM, Ksubi, Paul Smith, Adidas and ultimately found its true form in his own label “Graz”.

Shannon Crees is a street artist who swapped her life as a fashion designer to pursue a career in art and quickly got her break spraying canning for Banksy’s Murals Festival. Sydney born and bred, she has since collaborated with other doyens of the street art scene (Deadbeat Danny and Pure Evil), has own mural in the inner west and has exhibited widely in Sydney, as well as featuring in exhibitions in London and New York.

Eugene Tan has owned a camera since he was nine-years-old and been a keen surfer for 26 years, but it wasn’t until he became deeply frustrated with his day job as a corporate designer that he combined his two passions to pursue the almost unbelievable story that is Aquabumps.

What began in 1999 as a hobby, shooting the surf at daybreak and then emailing his mates soon became a morning ritual. Up early … get some shots and some waves in the bag, download the goods and flick them across the ether before going on to grind out his 9-5.

A growing following encouraged Uge to become a full-time surf photographer and the reward for his courage has paid off handsomely, the Bondi resident now a household name as a surf snapper, with a gallery selling artwork like it’s going out of fashion, a 200-page coffee table book and crowd of 40,0000 Facebook followers to his name.