The original makers of sinks (8)
I believe the answer is:
founders
'sinks' is the definition.
(foundering is a kind of sinking)
'the original makers of' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'funders' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for founders that I've seen before include "Goes to the bottom" , "beginners" .)