Creo Workshop: Claire and Fabio's Creative Space in Borgomanero

In Borgomanero, a town in the Novara area of Piedmont, there is a space that refuses to be defined by a single craft. It is called Creo Workshop, it was opened by Claire and Fabio, and on one afternoon you might find yourself holding a needle, the next evening a paintbrush, and the one after that glass beads and preserved flowers. What holds it all together is the idea of a place where people learn side by side, more than any particular technique.

Who Claire and Fabio are

Claire and Fabio are tattoo artists and makers. It is the first thing they say about themselves, and it explains a lot: tattooing means working every day with drawing, with a clean line and with the patience of someone who cannot erase. From there comes the urge to bring new projects to life and, eventually, the idea of a space to share with other artisans and with anyone who simply wants to learn something with their hands. It is a different formula from the classic studio, where one Maker teaches their own trade and nothing else: here Claire and Fabio act as hosts, providing the space, the welcome and the organisation, and the space is also meant to host other artisans who have a technique to teach. The workshop side of their activity started recently and the calendar is being built as they go, but the direction is clear: many techniques, one place.

We're down-to-earth, but our minds are always travelling. That's why we decided to create a shared space where we can welcome artisans and people who, just like us, are eager to learn, grow, and explore their creativity.

What happens at Creo Workshop

• Jewellery making workshop: you make pendants using different techniques, one entirely from coloured glass beads and one on a stainless steel base in a silver or gold finish, on which you arrange preserved dried flowers to your own taste. Suitable for children too.
• Journaling workshop: an evening spent decorating your own planner with coloured papers, photos, stickers and stamps, and personalising a clay bookmark shaped in advance by Claire and Fabio. Suitable for children too.
• Painting on jewellery boxes: acrylic painting on clay jewellery boxes and trinket trays they have already made; you pick a model, paint it with step-by-step guidance and finish with a coat of gloss.
• Embroidery class: a multi-stage course with hoop, needle and thread, from the first stitches on a cotton T-shirt all the way to embroidering a pair of jeans or a denim jacket.

The workshops published so far span several disciplines, and they show how broad the idea of making behind the name really is. What they share is what matters most to a complete beginner: materials and tools are included, an aperitivo accompanies the work, whoever leads the session stays by your side, and you take home a finished object the same evening. None of these sessions asks for prior experience, and most of them fit into an evening or an afternoon. You book online with a deposit and settle the balance on site.

Embroidery, one stage at a time

Among the published sessions, the embroidery class deserves a closer look, because it is built as a path rather than a one-off. You begin with the fundamental stitches, practising on a test cloth in the hoop and then embroidering a small motif on a cotton T-shirt. The intermediate level moves on to more complex stitches on a cotton pouch. The advanced level takes embroidery onto a garment you already own, a pair of jeans or a denim jacket, where thick fabric and the value of the piece raise the stakes. That is the right way to learn a manual craft: the same gesture repeated on increasingly demanding surfaces, until the hand stops thinking about it. If you want to get your bearings among formats and levels before booking, read our guide on how to choose the right craft workshop.

Borgomanero and the Novara area

Borgomanero sits in the province of Novara, in eastern Piedmont, in an area many visitors rush through on their way up to Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore. It is exactly the kind of town where a space like Creo Workshop makes sense: close enough to the lakes to meet people on holiday, rooted enough to have locals who come back the following Saturday. For practical information the institutional reference is the Municipality of Borgomanero; for a general overview there is the entry on Wikipedia.

Where to find Claire and Fabio

The Creo Workshop profile on Handsome gathers Claire and Fabio's introduction, photos from the sessions and the open dates, with online booking and payment. If you want to keep an eye on it, you can follow them straight from the profile: when a new date is released, it shows up there. On Handsome, people who teach join as an Apprentice, if they make things by hand but do not yet have a VAT number, or as a Maker, if the activity is already established. Creo Workshop was born precisely to host other artisans: if you have a technique to teach and no place to do it, how the platform works is explained on the page for people who create. The rest of the active workshops across Italy are in the workshop catalogue.