Crafts to try this winter around The Hague and Rotterdam
By Sol
About wintering
By five in the afternoon in November, the North Sea just few blocks away my house, has gone the colour of wet slate. I grew up with Argentine summers, forty degrees in the shade, and the Dutch winter still catches me off guard every year.
For a long time I tried to rush winter away: count the weeks to spring, hibernate on the couch, wait it out. Lately I've been learning to inhabit it instead. Kari Leibowitz writes about this in How to Winter: the season feels different when you look for what it offers, instead of only what it takes.
What winter offers, I've found, is a good excuse to be indoors with your hands busy and other people around. Here are the crafts I'd suggest trying, and the places I love the most around the netherlands.
Why these? well, all of them can be tried as a beginner in a single session, studios include materials, and lots of them run weekday evening workshops in English.
The crafts and where to try them
This list has been growing for a while. Some of these places we've tried and loved, some we've walked past a hundred times, some came to us as a rec: a participant, a maker, a friend who said you have to go here. And some are our beloved partners, the studios that open their doors to Unreciped every season. Some of these you can experience with us during a season; many you can't, and we love them just the same.
Pottery and hand-building
Shaping clay by hand or on a wheel. You'll make a small bowl, cup or plant pot. Good for: switching your brain off completely. It's very hard to think about email with clay up to your wrists.
Pottery painting
You decorate a ready-made piece, which is glazed and fired for you. Good for: anyone intimidated by the wheel. You leave with something useful and properly yours.
Lino printing
Carving a design into linoleum, then inking and printing it. Good for: making your own winter cards. Carve once, print dozens.
Mosaic
Arranging small pieces of tile or glass into a design, then grouting it. Good for: patient, meditative evenings, with a coaster or tray to take home.
Embroidery
Decorating fabric with thread, by hand. Good for: portable calm. Once you know a few stitches, you can do it anywhere.
Watercolour
Painting with pigment and water on paper. Good for: loosening up. It rewards letting go more than control.
Sewing
Learning the machine and making a simple tote, apron or cushion. Good for: making things you'll actually use. My first apron has crooked seams and I wear it anyway.
Tufting
Shooting yarn into stretched canvas with a tufting gun to make rugs or wall pieces. Good for: big, bold, tactile results. Heavier than it looks
More options
These ten are just the start. Our list is much longer, and it grows every season as we visit new studios and people keep telling us about their favourite places. If you'd like the rest, leave your email here or write to us at hola@unreciped.com and we'll send it your way.
How to choose?
If you want to switch off: pottery, mosaic or embroidery. Slow and absorbing.
For quick wins: pottery painting, finished in one evening.
For gifts: lino printing, just in time for December.
If you can't decide: try two or three over a month. Your hands will tell you!
Where to find workshops
Studios directly. Most independent studios list beginner workshops on their website or Instagram.
Eventbrite and Meetup. Search "workshop" plus your city for one-off evenings.
Community centres and libraries. Your local buurthuis or library often runs affordable creative courses.
Workshop booking platforms: such as Spot, Let's Flip or Your 5 to 9
Winter in the Netherlands is long, but it doesn't have to be something you just get through. Choose the craft on this list that made you most curious, book one evening in the next two weeks, and see how your hands feel about it. If you love it, go deeper. If you don't, try the next one. Either way, it beats another evening of waiting for spring.
Trying several crafts at once
An Unreciped season is one of those multi-craft formats: four weeks in The Hague or Rotterdam, a different craft each week, the same small group of eight, materials included. Past seasons included pottery painting, mosaic, punch needle and sewing. More about seasons →
If one craft on this list already has your heart, go straight to a studio that specialises in it. You'll learn more, faster.
Any other good studios you want us to add? Send them our way!
xx