Creative Upcycling

Getting inspiration from Japanese philosophy and repair, join in at the creative and inspiring Art4Space studio.

Wednesday evenings 18.30-21.00. Book here.

You will use inspiration from Japanese philosophy about repair and mend, held at the inspiring creative Art4Space studio. An experienced and friendly teacher will guide you every step of the way. You will join our fixer-maker movement to fix, improve and reimagine the things we already have. Avoid the misery of landfill! Learn together. Drinks and nibbles provided too.

We rotate between three different themes:

• Kanzashi, £30 per person – A kanzashi flower is traditionally made by mindfully folding fabric, think origami but with a beautiful selection of upcycled / reclaimed textiles which you then stitch your design into place. You can turn your flower into hair clips, broach or general decoration. We provide the fixings. You can bring your own fabric too (turn your favourite old top into a flower) – but we also have plenty of choice.
• Repair and Mend clothing, £30 per person – Using darning, patching, stitching and embroidery techniques to transform garments. The practice of visible mending, which emphasises rather than hides the repair, adds creativity to the clothing's sustainability. The visible mending trend has its history in the ancient Japanese tradition of sashiko, stitching geometric patterns into fabric in order to strengthen it. We can also show you Kreinik which uses silver or gold thread to highlight the repair. Bring your clothes from home. Or learn the techniques on a textile banner.
• Kintsugi, £40 per person – Kintsugi is an ancient art form that celebrates the Japanese philosophy of the beauty of imperfection. It involves putting broken pieces of pottery back together with gold, embracing the cracks to produce a beautiful piece of art! We create one classic Japanese bowl using traditional method and philosophy. We then experiment with another crockery piece of choice (we will provide this), however you can bring your own bowl along and we can try to support you to complete it. Should work fine and expose the crack with gold.

Join your teacher in their creative, inclusive and welcoming environment and enjoy this unique London activity with friends for an extra special birthday party or team-building event idea.

Book here.