Martha Laurens is a Sydney-based artist, calligrapher, penman and educator whose practice brings together classical letterforms, traditional penmanship, manuscript illumination, painting, gilding and decorative art. Her work is grounded in close observation, disciplined hand practice and a particular sensitivity to materials—especially the relationship between colour, gold and the written form.

Her artistic training began in Indonesia in the 1990s through oil painting and decorative arts, before developing into a sustained study of historical and contemporary calligraphic practice across the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. Between 2019 and 2025, she received IAMPETH Certificates of Proficiency and Excellence in Spencerian Script and Illuminated Border, together with a Certificate of Excellence in Ornamental Penmanship.
 

Martha has taught students, private groups and organisations internationally, including in Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. She was among IAMPETH’s early Virtual Instructors and, in August 2026, taught Listening to Gold at the IAMPETH Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Her teaching ranges from focused group classes to private intensive study and long-term mentorship, with an emphasis on understanding structure, material behaviour, and the reasoning behind technique rather than repeating formulas.
 

Alongside teaching, Martha undertakes commissioned scrolls and formal calligraphic works for civic, ceremonial, institutional and private contexts. Through Martha Laurens Calligraphy and Design House, she continues to develop work in which lettering, painting, precious materials and manuscript traditions meet within a contemporary practice.
 

Increasingly, her work extends into research and writing: examining how calligraphic knowledge is observed, practised, interpreted and transmitted, and how historical craft traditions may remain intellectually rigorous and materially alive within contemporary practice.