From studio to experience: how a CNA member opens their workshop to the public

Opening your studio to the public doesn't mean turning it into a school. It means choosing one gesture of your craft, giving it a length and a price, and letting someone try it with their own hands. The workshop stays yours: it takes place in your studio or in a venue you choose.

This guide is written for members of CNA Pesaro e Urbino. From October 2026 to September 2027 the association and Handsome are working together, free of charge, to bring members' workshops online: what the collaboration includes is explained in CNA Pesaro e Urbino brings its members to Handsome. The steps, though, apply to any artisan. You'll find the decisions to make first and the checks to do with the people who advise you. Then how to publish on Handsome, what changes with private groups and companies, and how to use the CNAPESARO code without wasting it.

The gesture first, then the class

The most natural mistake is wanting to teach everything. In three hours a craft doesn't get passed on: a gesture does. Centring clay on the wheel, rolling out a sheet of pasta, setting a stone, finishing a chopping board. The right gesture can be learned in an afternoon, can go wrong without drama and leaves something in your hands.

That something is one of the first questions people ask before booking: what do I take home? Answer it before you write a single line. Decide also when they take it home, because in the Handsome listing it's a field with three options: straight away, after a few days with pick-up at the studio, or by post. A mug that needs firing won't come out of the kiln by the end of the afternoon, and saying so beforehand avoids disappointment later. We covered this in what you take home: how to write it in the listing.

The last thing to settle is who it's for. The listing asks for one of three levels: “For everyone”, “From scratch”, “Some practice”. If you're opening your studio for the first time, “From scratch” is almost always the most honest choice.

Length, places and price: three decisions to make together

Length. You choose from fixed formats: one hour, an hour and a half, two hours, two and a half hours, three hours, half a day (four hours), a full day (eight hours). Pick the one in which the gesture is completed without rushing, counting the welcome and the goodbyes too. A format that fits into a Saturday afternoon is also the easiest to repeat.

Places. Count hands, not chairs. How many wheels or benches you have, how many people you can follow without leaving anyone behind. You set the places date by date, and you can set a minimum number of participants for the class to go ahead. People booking see it written: “Runs with at least N people: if it doesn't fill up the Maker may cancel, and you get a full refund”. There's a separate article on the right number: how many places for a workshop.

Price. It's per person and it's final: materials, firing, tools, the apron you lend. The customer shouldn't find extra items when they arrive. The minimum to publish is €15 per person.

Online, the customer pays only a deposit. It's a round figure, the same for every group workshop, and you don't have to work it out: €10 per place. They pay you the rest on the day of the workshop, on site. An example: with an €80-per-person workshop, the customer pays €10 online and €70 on the day of the class.

Handsome takes no commission on the workshop price. The deposit goes straight to your Stripe account. Only Stripe's payment fees apply to the part paid online. The payout to your bank starts about five days after the workshop. And if a customer cancels, the rules are fixed and the system applies them: you'll find them in cancellations and no-shows: what happens to the money.

With a VAT number you can also add the private session: a closed group of one to six people, still priced per person, with a €25 deposit for the whole session. With the minimum group size, the session must be worth at least €35.

What you really need before opening the door

An article can't replace your adviser, and doesn't try to. It can, however, tell you which questions to bring, because they're almost always the same.

• The premises. Whether your studio's permitted use allows paying participants is up to the municipality: the answer comes from the SUAP office, ideally in writing. The method is in letting paying customers into your studio: the permits you need. If your studio isn't suitable, the class can be held elsewhere: where to run a workshop without a studio.
• Safety and insurance. Someone who picks up one of your tools isn't a spectator. Ask your safety consultant and your insurer whether your cover also applies to people present during a class: liability insurance for artisans who run workshops.
• Food. If participants cook or you serve food, that's a chapter of its own: workshops with food, HACCP and health authority notification.
• Minors and photos. If you welcome young people or want to publish photos of the day, there are specific rules: minors at your workshop and participants' photos and privacy.
• The tax document. On the day of the workshop you issue the receipt or invoice yourself, once and for the full amount: online deposit plus balance on site. You'll find each participant's total in the attendance list. How to issue it depends on your tax regime, and here your accountant has the final word.

If you're a member, you can bring these same questions to your CNA office too.

Maker or Apprentice: choose the right profile

There are two profiles on Handsome, and it pays to choose well from the start.

• Maker, with a verified VAT number: no limit on the number of workshops, private sessions, private events, company requests, product sales (5 items published without a subscription, no limit with Pro). This is the profile the CNAPESARO code applies to.
• Apprentice, without a VAT number, working on an occasional basis: up to 5 published workshops per calendar year and only public group workshops, with the €5,000-a-year threshold flagged by a notice in the dashboard. No private sessions, private events, companies or products. Apprentices have their own Pro, €49 one-off for 12 months. The CNAPESARO code doesn't apply.

The difference between the two paths is explained in full in hobbyist or artisan: which profile to choose.

On Handsome, one step at a time

1. Sign up. It's free. The sign-up form asks you to choose Maker and then your studio's details: name, craft, at least one specialisation, town and your story, in at least 150 characters. You also need a waist-up portrait with your face clearly visible, at least three photos of your work and your VAT number. At the last step, in the “Association / partner code (optional)” field, type CNAPESARO. There the code is only noted down: Pro is activated later, as explained below.

2. Wait for verification. The team reviews your profile and checks your VAT number within 24-48 hours. Meanwhile you can already prepare your first workshop as a draft: it goes live once verification is done.

3. Say you're a member. In your profile, in the “Associazione di categoria” (trade association) section, choose CNA. Once the Handsome team has verified it, the “CNA Member” badge appears.

4. Connect Stripe. You do it from the Payments item in the dashboard. Without Stripe the listing saves as a draft but can't be published, because the deposit would have nowhere to go. To publish you also need your billing details and accepted terms. All the steps are in connecting Stripe to get paid for workshops.

5. Write the listing. There are seven screens: what you offer, describe the experience, when, price, where, photos and what's included, summary. The rules to know before you start:

• a title of up to 48 characters, without flyer words like “discount”, “sale” or “promo”, which the system rejects;
• one sentence that says what people do, then a description of at least 60 words;
• “How it works” in 3-5 steps and “What you'll learn” in at least three lines;
• at least four photos of your own: the first becomes the cover;
• at least one date in the calendar;
• the venue, meaning your studio or a place you choose, with directions for getting there (entry phone, courtyard, parking);
• up to five questions and answers of your own; the listing suggests some, such as “What if I don't finish the piece?” or “Where do I park?”;
• the texts in English, optional, if you want the page to speak to people who don't read Italian.

6. Spread the word. After every publication the promotion kit opens, free of charge. Inside are the link to the workshop and the link to your shop page, ready to copy, the ready-made bio text and where to paste them on Instagram. With Pro, under Tools in the dashboard you'll also find the A4 poster with your profile's QR code, to hang in your shop. After the workshop, reviews can only be left by people who booked on Handsome, once the workshop has taken place.

The CNAPESARO code, without wasting it

• It's for people who sign up as a Maker with a VAT number and gives 60 days of Pro, that is two months.
• It can only be activated once your profile is approved. In the dashboard open Maker Pro, then “Compare with Free, codes and Handpoints”, then “Redeem”. If you entered it when you signed up you'll find it ready; if you forgot, type it by hand in the same field.
• Redeem it before starting the 30-day free trial: while Pro is active, trial included, the code is rejected. It can be used once.
• You don't need a card to start. About a week before the end you get a reminder email. If you haven't added a card or a SEPA direct debit, Pro switches off by itself and you pay nothing. If you have, it continues at €9.90 a month. Alternatively there's the annual plan, €95, with a one-hour call with the founder.

What Pro adds:

• when relevance is equal, your workshop comes first;
• it emails people who leave their details but don't complete the booking;
• it shows on the page how many people are looking and who has already booked;
• for private events, when craft and area are equal, it puts you forward first;
• it unlocks the Social Kit, with carousels and stories;
• it unlocks statistics with export;
• it unlocks the dashboard tools, poster included.

Without Pro, calendar, bookings, profile, reviews, chat with customers and the promotion kit stay free. You don't need it to get started.

Private groups and companies: when the group comes looking for you

Besides open dates there are requests. People who want to celebrate a birthday or a hen party fill in a private event request on Handsome, for a group of 1 to 30 people. Companies looking for an activity for colleagues use a separate form. In both cases it's the Handsome team that passes the request on to suitable Makers. For private events craft comes first, then distance, and Pro only counts as a tie-breaker.

If the request reaches you, reply with a proposal: title, description, length, what people take home, materials included, your net amount per person, notes and up to three photos. The proposal stays saved in “My proposals”: for the next request you reuse it or edit it, without rewriting it from scratch.

Here's how the money works. You state your net amount per person and you collect all of it, as the balance, on the day of the event. With companies the scheme is the same: the company confirms online and you invoice the balance. You don't see the company's budget, contacts or notes. Its name only reaches you once the deposit is paid, and everything goes through Handsome.

Handsome promises companies a reply within 24 hours and a proposal within two working days, so it's worth replying quickly. These channels are reserved for Makers with a VAT number. What companies look for when they book an experience in the province is in team building in Pesaro and Urbino.

Six mistakes to avoid

1. Teaching the whole craft in one afternoon. One gesture done well is worth more than five techniques barely touched.
2. A price that doesn't include everything. If you then charge separately for firing or materials, the customer feels cheated. The price on the listing is the final one.
3. Your phone number in the description. Numbers, emails and social profiles in the listing text are blocked: bookings and questions go through Handsome and the chat.
4. Not saying when the piece can be collected. If it needs firing or drying, write when and where it can be picked up.
5. Cancelling at the last minute. If you cancel, all participants are refunded in full. Better to set a minimum to go ahead and decide in time. How to let people know is explained in communicating a date change or a cancellation.
6. Starting the Pro trial before redeeming CNAPESARO. With Pro active the code is rejected. Code first, everything else after.

Where to start this week

Take a sheet of paper and write five lines: the gesture, what people take home, how long it lasts, for how many people, the all-inclusive price. If the five lines hold up, the listing can be written in an evening.

Then look at what's around: workshops in Pesaro, Urbino and Fano, and the guide to workshops in the province, which shows how people looking for an experience book. When you're ready, start from the page of the collaboration with CNA Pesaro e Urbino. There you'll find the code, the steps and the button to sign up as a Maker.