Majacraft

A New Zealand Workshop, Three Decades In

The first true double-treadle spinning wheels in New Zealand came out of a workshop in the late 1980s, designed by John Arlott for a friend who needed gentle exercise for both legs. Those early designs evolved into the folding Suzie that is still in continuous production today. Owen and Glynis Poad bought the company in 1996, took full ownership in 2002, and the family has run it ever since, now with Andrew and Toni Poad leading the team. Majacraft wheels are built primarily from New Zealand Rimu, a slow-growing native podocarp prized for its grain and color, with newer designs like the Luna using sustainably sourced bamboo. All of the Rimu in a single wheel is color-matched, and even the underside is sanded as carefully as the visible surfaces.

Spinning Wheels for Every Style of Spinner

The Majacraft range covers seven wheels with overlapping but distinct purposes. The Aura is the brand's signature hybrid double drive wheel, co-developed with art yarn pioneer Lexi Boeger of Pluckyfluff, capable of spinning from laceweight through textured art yarn through the same orifice without changing settings. The Aura Overdrive scales that system up to over a gallon of bobbin capacity for production-style spinning. The Rose is the elegant scotch tension flagship, shipping with two flyers, four bobbins, and the laser-engraved Rose Carrier as a 3-bobbin lazy kate. The Suzie is the original double-treadle Majacraft, still the workhorse of the lineup. The Suzie Professional adds a heavier painted drive wheel, an extra high speed pulley, and a ceramic e-flyer for fine and lace work. The Little Gem is the folding travel wheel with a full-height orifice and swivel flyer for left or right-handed spinning. The Luna is the newest model, an inline bamboo design with scotch tension and ratios from 5.9 to 16.7.

Bobbins, Flyers, Heads, and the Compatibility Promise

One of Majacraft's defining design choices is that pulleys, bobbins, and flyers fit across the wheel range within practical limits. The Aura Hybrid Flyer, the Wild Flyer for art yarns, the Plying Flyer for jumbo work, and the standard delta and ceramic-orifice flyers all interchange across compatible wheels. Wood bobbins are built from laser-cut bamboo ply with 3D-printed rings and fiberglass tubes, and run on every modern Majacraft wheel including the Aura's double drive. For upgrades, the High Speed Head extends top ratios into the high 20s for fine and lace work, and the Overdrive Head brings the Aura's direct-drive bobbin system to Rose, Suzie, and Suzie Pro owners with five-litre Overdrive bobbins. The Universal Tensioned Lazy Kate, the Travelling Kate, and the Wheel Skeiner round out the accessory line. Buy a wheel today, add a head next year, swap in a wild flyer for art yarn the year after. The system grows with the spinner.