On a warm September night, I sat at a crowded Greenpoint, Brooklyn spot and browsed the menu. It was a similar scene to many nights I’d had before, but this menu was different. Instead of a martini or a burger, there was a “collage buffet” and air-dry clay. At a simple wooden table across from a friend I hadn’t seen in nearly a year, I ordered a set of watercolors from a waiter. They were presented to me like a plated assortment of dips, with pigments ready to be wetted on a large dish and various-sized brushes wrapped in a napkin like clean utensils. As I began painting, my friend picked up a piece of the charcoal she ordered and began to sketch. “Did you know I almost went to art school?” She asked. I didn’t. We went on from there, sketching and painting for the next two hours as we caught up on the last 12 months of our lives.
This is a night at Happy Medium, an “art cafe” that offers classes and programming around arts and crafts activities, inviting attendees to develop new skills or revisit old creative pursuits. “Socialization culture, particularly for adults outside of school, has become really centered around eating and drinking,” says Tayler Carraway, a co-founder of Happy Medium. “I think we’ve been successful because we’ve provided another option for people to do something with their friends outside their house.”
Seated across from one another, the tactile activities required us to be off our phones for the entire night, and we weren’t interrupted by ordering or consuming food and drink. It didn’t matter that my watercolors looked like the work of a four-year-old. In fact, the whole evening—aside from the hipster aesthetics and Greenpoint crowd—felt like an adult playdate: two friends hanging out and doing crafts, like it used to be when we were kids.
Happy Medium is just one of a variety of spaces that have popped up since Covid that offer individuals a place to gather, learn, and participate in small craft projects in a low-stress and no-commitment way. According to a report from Eventbrite, in 2024, craft workshop events soared with a 44% rise in crochet events and 34% in jewelry-making. General interest in collage, crafting, and pottery-making events has also increased.
“Can I just say: the Brooklyn man loves to be a woodworker right now,” Isabelle Rieken says. She’s only half-kidding, and as part of the duo behind NY-based Craft Society, she would know. She’s observed as young women (and men) join the Craft Society’s programming of lessons in net bag weaving and mulberry paper-lamp making, hosted at small boutiques and restaurants. Craft Society provides an alternative space for gathering, hosting anyone from craft-curious individuals to couples on their third dates. “People love to chat at these, which is awesome,” says the other Craft Society co-founder, Noa Mellul. “Once they’re in the zone, they’re all getting to know each other, talking to their neighbors, and exchanging Instagrams at the end… People get to make new friends.”
It’s easy to understand why spaces like this began emerging after 2020. During lockdown, many of us were stuck at home, feeling like the only thing to do was stare at a Zoom screen and then doomscroll TikTok dance trends. Some took solace in old activities, and others searched for new hobbies after becoming embarrassingly aware of how few pastimes they actually had. In general, many people were looking for something that did not involve a screen. The desire persists as work from home continues, and individuals’ screen time increases. “We call it digital fatigue,” says Carraway. “We’re so hyper online all the time, and these offline experiences have disappeared. So hopefully we’re bringing that back from the social aspect of it.”
At a collage night with RecCreates Collective, inside a warehouse near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the night began with prompts from the event’s host, who asked us things like, “What’s your favorite natural wonder?” (The event’s theme was climate change—to get the conversation flowing.) As it turns out, though, we didn’t need prompts. Even without alcohol—which very few of these places provide—our table had no problem finding things to chat about despite our different life stages; a first-year student from Columbia was happy to chat with a woman visiting NYC from Savannah. The way that booze can provide social lubricant is, in many ways, replicated by the process of doing something with your hands.
“A beautiful thing about it all is that crafting is a built-in icebreaker,” says Leah Smith, co-founder and strategic lead at Chicago Craft Club. “All you have to do is say: ‘What are you working on?’ And then the conversation just goes from there.” Unlike the typical crafting model, most of Chicago Craft Club’s programming is BYOC: Bring Your Own Craft. This provides a less structured environment, emphasizing connection and knowledge sharing more than skill development.
When the original Arts and Crafts movement emerged in late 19th-century Victorian England, society was at a similar inflection point regarding technology. Nearly 150 years ago, in response to the technological boom and effects of the industrial revolution, there was a desire for high-quality objects created by an artist’s hand. Now, one could argue that the current state of the world, with the increase of AI and mass production, has resulted in a renewed desire for handmade items and a higher value placed on these simple, old-fashioned crafts. The rising popularity of crafts and these types of spaces may be a response to this new type of over-industrialization.
“People are returning to individuality,” says Mellul. “And I think they’re excited to be able to be like, ‘I made this thing’ and not, ‘I got it on Amazon.’” That’s one of the reasons Craft Society focuses on functional crafts, not just things that add to clutter. This also increases confidence and competence among attendees who realize that the small, fun project they’re doing now is also a skill that can be developed. “One of my favorite phrases when window shopping is just going, like, ‘I can make that,’ which I do way more than I should,” adds Rieken.
At Happy Medium, this sentiment is echoed—and growing. Their “Build a Chair” workshop is already highly popular, but with the additional space at their Brooklyn location, there are plans for more home decor and furniture classes. “It’s only in the last 100 years that we ve been able to afford mass-produced items. Those kinds of home ec. skills—like building your furniture, making your quilts, or repairing things in your home—have kind of disappeared. It’s not taught anymore,” says Carraway. “I think you get a lot of satisfaction when you make something and own it.”
Just because something is functional or skill-building doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be so practical. Take one of RecCreates’s most popular offerings, “Cake Club.” They partner with a baker, and RecCreates provides everything from the cake to the sprinkles, so all you have to do is show up. Attendees learn the basics of cake decorating tools and techniques throughout the event. The expectation isn’t to walk away with a Pinterest-perfect cake but to engage with a new set of tools and canvas. It’s a good reminder of the joy in creating as an act in and of itself.
“People want a return to innocence—like playing and not being too serious,” says Mellul. At one of her favorite events, a paper puppet-making class, this concept rang particularly true. “The average age was 45, and it was so awesome to see these grown adults making silly little paper puppets.”
There are very few places where you can try out new things without the potential cost to your ego or a considerable cost to your wallet. These social art spaces strive to provide the atmosphere for precisely that. Plus, in a world where every hobby can easily become another revenue stream, places like RecCreates and Happy Medium emphasize the beginner experience, cultivating a place where you’re encouraged not to commodify the fun. “A lot of this is just play,” says Laura Mattfeld of Chicago Craft Club. “It sounds silly, but [let’s] play alongside other adults and be goofy.”