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Header images courtesy of @hiuchi_art and @mosaicartstudiohk (via Instagram)
We often find ourselves bending over backwards, day in and day out, meeting deadlines whilst sipping multitude cups of coffee. You may not have signed up for this never-ending contract called adulthood, but what you can sign up for are quirky and unusual workshops to break the monotone! Learning new skills is indispensable to greater well-being. On one hand, you get to show off the masterpiece you birthed from scratch and on the other, you can have some time off to experiment with your craftiness!
Here are five of our top picks on the best unusual workshops in Hong Kong where you can “work, work, work” in a creative space (all workshops provide English instructions and occasionally tasty treats!). Advance booking is required for all these workshops, more information and registration instructions can be found on their website or Instagram page.
One can easily find Turkish cuisine to devour in Hong Kong, but to make a traditional Turkish lamp using a variety of hand-cut glasses and beads? Now, that’s new! This workshop’s location will have you mesmerised by the colourful hanging lanterns in the ceiling to the eclectic table mats spread out. These lamps will make a beautiful house-warming gift to give to a loved one, or, of course, for cosy night-ins with a warm ambience (the hibernating season is coming after all!).
Price for candle holders is $320 and prices for lamps range from $460 to $790, depending on the design and the size. These are all package deals (we live for these!) and the price comes with the candle or lamp along with authentic Turkish tea freshly brewed on the spot and Turkish delight to surely delight your sweet tooth! Light bulbs and plugs will be provided for free for the lamps. And wait, there’s more! For any bookings of four people or above, each person gets a handmade Turkish bowl. Bear in mind that you will have to wait a week or two to pick up your masterpiece as a special coating will be applied to keep your glass pieces in-tact.
Mosaic Art Studio, Room 705, 7/F, World Interests Building, 8 Tsun Yip Lane, Kwun Tong | (+852) 9151 6968
If you’ve watched Avatar the Last Airbender, you may have wished to be able to bend an element or two. Well, here’s your chance to bend glass! A group of glass-making professionals at Glazden will guide you to making glassware, sculptures, and even festive ornaments to add a personal touch to your Christmas tree. Another one of their thoughtful specialty is memorial glass art pieces, which serve as keepsakes for cremation ashes.
Glasswares cost $980 for one cup and $1800 for two, two Christmas glass ornaments cost $580, and glass roses cost $580 for two. The colours, patterns, designs and shapes will be up to your preferences.
Glazden, G/F, 23 Sau Wa Fong, Wan Chai | (+852) 9133 2698
Obellery promotes contemporary jewellery crafted using precious metal. They also have an online shop which sells a variety of jewellery crafted by various artists. Through their workshops, you will learn about using different tools and techniques to achieve visual aesthetics in jewellery making. Some of their workshops may just take one lesson but some are divided into up to four lessons. Each workshop has a fixed weight of metal; additional fees will be charged for extra metal. Obellery gives couples the most unique and perfect opportunity to create their very own pair of wedding rings, what better way to commemorate a beautiful new chapter in life! Wedding rings workshops start from $12,800 for two rings, the rings are made using 18k gold in either yellow, white or rose gold. Silver bangles cost $1,780 per bangle and a jewellery set of two rings, one pendant and one bracelet costs $3500 in total.
Obellery, Shop H403, Block B, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central | (+852) 2155 4198
Aside from chowing down a delish piece of cake, the most satisfying part of baking has got to be piping and decorating the beauty (and okay, cakes smell amazing, too!). All in all, baking is a feast to your senses. Realistic flower piping has become a hot trend in recent times and the reason is pretty self-explanatory. At Twinkle Garden, one can learn the different techniques of piping a cake using Korean flower piping, buttercream frosting, and wafer flower piping. Wafer flower piping may be a harder technique but it’s a wonder as to how something so eerily realistic is completely edible!
Classes for a whole cake cost $980 for group sessions and $1280 for private sessions. If baking an entire cake is a bit much for you then worry not there are cupcake classes which bake a batch of four, costing $780 for group sessions and $980 for private ones. As for private sessions, one has more flexibility to choose the timeslot and it is one-on-one.
Twinkle Garden, Room 1109, 682 Castle Peak Road, Cheung Sha Wan | (+852) 9629 4142
Want to get your hands dirty? Then you need to add pottery to your list! Pottery is an ancient art form that still intrigues the young. Keeping your arms steady is an important part of pottery and slow and steady wins the race when it comes to sculpting your bowls or cups. At Hiu Chi, you can choose to go for bowls, plates, or cups, or take on a little bit of an extra challenge by sculpting a candle holder. The two pictures shown above are students’ works.
Prices for making your own ceramics costs $650 and the candle holder costs $780. The workshops are divided into two sessions; first, for sculpting and second, for glazing. The instructors will then help to fire up your work (I mean this literally!) to make it sturdier and to bring out the vibrant hues of the glaze. The two sessions have a two-week gap and the final product will be ready two weeks upon glazing. A cardboard box and bubble wrap will be provided.
Hiu Chi, 10C, The Globe, 79 Wing Hong Street, Cheung Sha Wan | (+852) 6205 9550
Fashila was born in India but raised in Hong Kong and shares a strong bond with both her home and birth land. She loves hunting for hidden gems and finding the road less travelled. When she’s not breaking her back from educating and shaping little earthlings, you can find her loading up on succulents at the Flower Market, buying yet another book to rest on the shelf, or making calories come to life by baking.
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