From ceramics to candle making: craft kits from London makers for DIY homewares

Looking for lockdown solace? The best kits to help you flex your creative muscle and add a personal touch to your home.
Tapestry weaving kit, Balfour & Co, £100
Balfour & Co

Lond on’s hot young makers are now offering DIY kits complete with materials and instructions to make your own homewares

This isn’t daggy old crafting of yore, though. This is homemade 2.0, with video tutorials and cool colourways bringing everything from embroidery to whittling into the 21st century. 

Here are some of the top options to help you find lockdown solace, learn a new skill and end up with a great new piece for your home. 

When houseguests are finally allowed again, you can hit them with your very best, “Oh this old thing? I made it myself.”

Twine Basket Kit, La Basketry, £26

La Basketry is an online marketplace for handwoven homeware and accessories made by Senegalese women. 

Its founder, Tabara N’Diaye already hosted weaving workshops and last summer launched a range of kits, so that people can weave their own colourful patterned baskets at home amid the pandemic. 

Kits include rope, colourful twines and a needle as well as video and written instructions. There’s an option to add a copy of N’Diaye’s book, Baskets, too.  

Ceramic kit, Mäe Ceramics, from £50

South-east London based potter Lilly Maetzig, the force behind Mäe Ceramics, has created these Home Mäed clay kits for while her studio – where she usually offers classes – is in lockdown. 

Each kit comes with enough clay for a set of cups and there’s a video tutorial offering specific instructions, but Maetzig encourages the daring to let their imaginations run wild. 

You can take your finished pots to the studio to be fired and glazed.  

Mae Ceramics

Spoon whittling kit, Kitchen Provisions, £16 or £25 with Opinel penknife

From a small homewares company in Osaka, Japan, the kit comes with a rough block of wood with a ready-carved spoon bowl, sandpaper, beeswax and instructions. 

The hinoki wood is easy to carve and you can get creative with the form and decoration if you wish.

Tapestry weaving kit, Balfour & Co, £100

Hackney-based weaving workshop Balfour & Co is selling this kit with everything you need to start weaving at home. 

The kit includes a tapestry frame loom, weaving tools, yarn – available in four colourways, and an illustrated instruction booklet. 

The studio also run online workshops for those who want to take their weaving up a notch.

Embroidery kit, The Fabled Thread, from £30

Eppie Thompson discovered the therapeutic and creative benefits of sewing while working as an investment banker. 

Her embroidery kits as The Fabled Thread are designed to appeal to “those who wouldn’t be your typical craft kit user” and come with video guides for every type of stitch and kit. 

Designs are inspired by fables and folk art with names like The Musicians and The Fables. There’s also an option to tapestry your own cushions.  

Candle-making kit, London Refinery, £25

London Refinery’s kits contain essential oil candle fragrance, soy wax and fashionable amber glassware along with all the tools you’ll need to make your own scented candles at home. 

Instructions are both written and on video and if you get really stuck you can join one of the brand’s online masterclasses.  

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