8 Hands-On Workshops in LA to Learn Something New in 2027
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Source: Made In Peerspace
Los Angeles is a city of makers, and its small-batch class scene keeps getting more inventive. We rounded up eight hands-on workshops in LA where you’ll pick up a real skill and leave with something you made yourself. Each one happens in a setting that shapes the experience, whether that’s a Venice café backyard, a Pasadena garden or your neighborhood library branch.
1. Camp Disco
Camp Disco takes the intimidation out of perfume, and its homepage promises zero “perfume snob” attitude. The workshop backs that up with no fixed recipes, so you’re free to experiment with a curated set of fragrance oils. You’ll learn the fragrance families plus top, heart and base notes along the way.
You’ll leave with your own spray bottle, a 10 ml rollerball and your formula, so you can recreate the scent later. Camp Disco says the name comes from “disco” for the fun and “camp” because camp is where you make friends and memories. Creator Jen Z wrote on Lemon8 that it was “such a unique and fun experience, perfect for a creative outing.”
- Where: These Hands Maker’s Collective in Los Angeles (public workshops)
- When: Public dates are posted one at a time on the workshop calendar
- Price: $95 for a standard ticket with a 15 ml bottle; $120 for a vintage bottle ticket with a 30 ml bottle
- Group Size: Semi-private sessions for up to six guests; private workshops for 6-30 guests, starting at $95 per guest
- Best For: Friend groups, dates, bachelorette parties, team events and first-timers
- How to Book: Grab tickets on the workshop calendar or request a private quote on the connect page
- Instagram: @campdiscolife
Why We’d Book It: Blending at a maker’s collective puts you in a room built for people who make things. It’s a setting where comparing notes with the next station feels natural, which suits Camp Disco’s summer-camp energy.
2. Chained By Joy
Chained By Joy brings a slightly edgy, alt sensibility to made-to-order chainmail. The shop, signed by Joy on its About page, makes necklaces, belt chains and bag charms meant to last a lifetime. In the Intro to Chainmail workshop, you’ll learn two beginner weaves, European 2-in-1 and Byzantine, while making a keychain, bracelet or earrings.
Every material is stainless steel, so your piece is tarnish-proof and hypoallergenic. Tools, jump rings, clasps, charms, pearls and complimentary refreshments are all included. The class pairs verbal and visual instruction, and the workshop page says the goal is to keep it as inclusive and accessible as possible.
- Where: Say When Studio, 1859 West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles
- When: One date is listed at a time on the workshops page
- Price: $80
- Ages: Under-18s are welcome with an adult
- Best For: Jewelry-curious beginners, alt and streetwear fans, and teens with a parent
- How to Book: Reserve on the Intro to Chainmail workshop page; spots are limited and there are no refunds within 72 hours
- Instagram: @chainedbyjoy
Why We’d Book It: At Say When Studio on West Adams Blvd., the limited-spot class means you’ll share a table stocked with tools, stainless steel jump rings and refreshments. That setup turns two beginner weaves into a maker hangout, where swapping tips with the person beside you comes easily.
3. Bright Greys Studio
Bright Greys Studio is run by Jess, a designer inspired by Filipino culture and craftsmanship. She believes objects should be used, kept and shared. Her Craft + Coffee pop-up turns two of your photos into a framed bag charm.
You upload the photos in advance, then pick two strands from a “bead buffet” of natural gemstones and glass. You’ll also choose a charm and rope or stainless chain. Staff assemble the finished piece, so no experience is needed.
Past pop-ups have also covered necklaces, earrings and phone charms. Private events can add sterling silver, gold-filled materials or laser engraving, according to the studio’s private workshops page.
- Where: Rotating partner venues; the recent Craft + Coffee pop-up took place at The Bean Bus in Venice, with the exact address emailed after purchase
- When: New pop-up dates are posted on the workshops page
- Price: $45 per seat for the photo bag charm workshop; private events have a $750 minimum
- Duration: About one hour
- Best For: Casual crafters, friends on a coffee date, gift-makers and families with older kids
- How to Book: Reserve a seat on the workshops page; walk-ins are taken if space allows
- Instagram: @brightgreys.studio
Why We’d Book It: The Bean Bus is a café in a converted vintage school bus, and you’ll craft in its relaxed Venice backyard. Sipping a coffee while you browse the bead buffet makes the hour feel like a weekend ritual, which fits Jess’s focus on everyday ritual perfectly.
4. Green Girl Crafts
Environmentalist and author Leah Thomas founded Green Girl Crafts as a “creative community and earth school for the curious,” per its website. Workshops blend hands-on making with ecological education. Categories include florals and natural dye, ferments, printmaking, slow handmade objects, field trips and communal “circles.”
Past sessions have included silk-scarf natural dyeing, cyanotype and anthotype printing, wreath making and herbal tea blending with a soundbath. Adventure.com traced the project’s roots to a craft club and its view of crafting as “climate-adjacent.”
Thomas, who also founded Intersectional Environmentalist, talked skill-sharing and third spaces with The Creative Independent. Past collaborators include Hauser & Wirth, Pinterest, UCLA and Girl Scouts of Greater LA.
- Where: Pop-ups at partner venues, including Arlington Garden in Pasadena, Descanso Gardens, Forager Crafts in Atwater Village and Cheerio Collective in Highland Park
- When: Upcoming and past events are listed in the events archive
- Ages: Some events are all-ages
- Best For: Nature lovers, sustainability-minded makers, community seekers and families
- How to Book: Check the events archive for details; some events run through partner venues
- Instagram: @greengirlcrafts
Why We’d Book It: At gardens like Arlington Garden in Pasadena, lessons about earth-based making happen with plants and open sky all around you. That setting makes the slow pace easy to settle into, and it’s natural to linger and talk with whoever’s beside you.
5. 3D Fuzzy Friends Needle Felting Workshop with Ayrin Gharibpour
Ayrin Gharibpour’s needle felting workshop turns your 2D sketches into 3D characters with barbed felting needles. You’ll build a firm wool core, join pieces without glue or stitching, then add details and facial expressions. You’ll leave with a fuzzy desk companion or bag charm.
Gharibpour is a fabricator, animator and educator who spent 10 years illustrating children’s books and working as a puppeteer in Tehran and LA. Her puppetry credits include Bob Baker Marionette Theater and Skirball Cultural Center, and she’s fabricated for studios like Stoopid Buddy Stoodios and Bix Pix. She also holds an Aardman Academy stop-motion industry training certificate, according to her About page.
- Where: Roving pop-ups at venues around Los Angeles
- When: Upcoming sessions are shared on her workshops page and on Instagram
- Best For: Beginners, illustrators and doodlers who want a calm, meditative craft and a cute keepsake
- How to Book: Visit her workshops page
- Instagram: @ayrin.gharibpour
Why We’d Book It: Since the class travels, each session takes on the character of its host venue. We’d follow her calendar and pick the pop-up whose room matches your mood, since the steady poking is meditative wherever you settle in.
6. Picklé
Picklé is the project of Jessica (Jess) Wang, a Chinese American fermented-food advocate whose tagline is “The future is fermented.” Her free “Let’s Get in a Pickle Together!” sessions put hands-on pickling kits on library tables. A Chinese Dessert Dumpling Demo + Tasting rounds out the current lineup, per the Picklé workshops page.
Wang spent five years in farm-to-table pastry kitchens, including Forage LA and State Bird Provisions, and studied food preservation under Ernest Miller. She’s also an alum of Sandor Katz’s fermentation residency, and Voyage LA profiled her alongside her bakery and deli project, Gu Grocery.
Private group workshops cover occasions like Lunar New Year and kimchi parties. Some sessions feature “Chinese Cookery with Mama Peggy,” her Taiwan-born mother.
- Where: LA Public Library branches, including Woodland Hills, Hyde Park, Echo Park and Angeles Mesa
- When: A monthly library calendar is posted on the workshops page
- Price: Free for library programs; private group pricing isn’t listed
- Ages: Sessions are labeled teen, adult or children’s
- Best For: Budget-minded learners, families, teens and anyone curious about fermentation or Chinese food heritage
- How to Book: No booking is needed for library programs, and walk-ins are welcome; find the schedule on the workshops page
- Instagram: @picklepickle.co
Why We’d Book It: A neighborhood library branch turns pickling into a shared kitchen table with neighbors you might never otherwise meet. Kits are limited and can run out, so arriving early becomes part of the fun.
7. The Sweet Spot Workshops
Friends Mia Starr and Susan met in corporate jobs and burned out. They started The Sweet Spot Workshops so adults could slow down and make things by hand. Mia is a cake artist seen on Tastemade’s “Baking the Holidays” and Disney’s “Magic Bake-Off.” Susan brings 20 years in business to operations, according to the About page. Each class moves through a technique lesson, a step-by-step project and free decorating time, covering filling, frosting, piping borders and buttercream flowers.
Themed classes like Vintage Hearts, Woodland Whimsy and Y2Kake keep the lineup fresh, and the LA Vintage Hearts sessions went viral and sold out. A Yelp reviewer wrote that “Susan and Mia are exquisite hosts and break down the skills step by step.”
- Where: Venues across the Los Angeles area; each class listing names its location
- When: Seasonal public classes are posted on the LA workshops page
- Price: Varies by class; see each listing
- Duration: About 90 minutes to two hours
- Ages: Public classes are for ages 13+; private kids’ parties start at age six
- Best For: Friend groups, birthdays, parent-and-child outings, teams and total beginners with a sweet tooth
- How to Book: Browse and book on the LA workshops page; cancellations are accepted up to 48 hours ahead
- Instagram: @thesweetspotworkshops
Why We’d Book It: The location changes by class, so the hosts bring the atmosphere with them: upbeat music, good vibes and a low-pressure table. The founders’ blog describes three generations of women decorating together, and we love a room relaxed enough to make that happen.
8. Studio Bubby
Studio Bubby bills itself as a place “for people who miss making things.” Founder Sofia, a former digital designer in tech, built it around that feeling.
In the Silver & Matcha workshop, you’ll shape a fine-silver ring or charm from silver clay. Then you’ll add texture and up to five gemstones, fire and polish it, and decorate your own jewelry box.
NBC LA’s California Live featured the studio, and its private workshop page shows 31 reviews, all five-star. Reviewers keep praising Sofia’s patient, clear instruction and the same-day results. One couple even made their engagement rings here.
- Where: A private studio in Westwood; the full address is emailed a few days before
- When: New dates are posted monthly
- Price: $185 for Silver & Matcha with snacks, a drink and a gift bag; private workshops are $195 per person (two-person minimum)
- Duration: Three hours
- Ages: 12+
- Best For: Couples, date nights, friend groups making friendship rings and anyone who wants a wearable keepsake
- How to Book: Choose a date on the workshops page; cancellations 10+ days out get a refund or credit
- Instagram: @studio.bubby
Why We’d Book It: Each session opens with ceremonial matcha from Little Match Studio so you can “land in the room” first. In a bright private studio, that ritual sets a calm, focused tone for three hours of detailed silver work.
Host your own hands-on workshop in LA
Every maker on this list shows how much the right setting adds to a class. If you’re dreaming up a workshop of your own, Peerspace has hundreds of workshop spaces in Los Angeles, including creative studios, storefronts and lofts. Explore Los angeles creative venues to find a space that fits your group.
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