A hands-on hobby after retirement: why to start with a workshop and how to choose one

«When I retire I'll learn pottery.» Or painting, or how to bake bread properly, or how to work wood. Many people say it, for years. Then retirement comes, there is time, and signing up for a year-long course feels like too big a commitment for something you do not yet know you will enjoy.

A two or three hour workshop is the way to try before you decide. You pay once, you try a craft from start to finish, you find out whether your hands and your head are happy with it. And if the answer is no, you try another one.

Why try before signing up for a course

• You choose with your hands, not on paper. Between the idea of pottery and a real wheel there is clay under your fingernails: in two hours you know whether you like it.
• You can try several things. Three different workshops in three months tell you more than any description.
• You meet new people. In group workshops ages mix: it is one of the few places where a retiree and a twenty-year-old work at the same table, as equals.
• You find a Maker. If you like the craft, the person who taught you can become your point of reference to carry on.

Which craft, depending on the kind of person

• If you love precision: jewellery, bookbinding, embroidery. Fine work, done sitting down, very satisfying when the piece is finished.
• If you want to move and get messy: ceramics and wood. More physical, noisier, very rewarding.
• If you love cooking: fresh pasta and baking. You learn a technique and go home with dinner.
• If you are looking for calm: watercolour, floral arrangements, candles. Slow rhythms, little strength needed in the hands.
• If you have a vegetable patch or a garden: terrariums, arrangements with plants and dried flowers.

What to look for on the listing, and what to ask

• The level: «For everyone» and «From scratch» mean no experience is needed.
• The length: two hours is a good start; four hours in a row can be tiring.
• The place: the address is on the listing. If stairs are difficult for you or you need parking nearby, ask first by writing to Handsome from the contact page.
• Collection: the listing says whether the object goes home with you straight away, is collected at the studio after firing, or is shipped.
• The price: it is per person and all-inclusive. Online you pay only the deposit, the rest to the Maker.

On your own, with friends or with grandchildren

Going on your own is perfectly fine: a group workshop is done with other people, and the work table is the easiest place to strike up a conversation. With a group of friends, or with people from your club, you can ask for a workshop just for you with the private events form, from 1 to 30 people. And with grandchildren: in the catalogue the «Suitable for children» filter shows the workshops you can do together, with the age range on the listing.

If you are giving it: for a parent's or a colleague's retirement

The present for a colleague's retirement is nearly always a whip-round and an object chosen in a hurry. An alternative is the Handsome gift card: from 15 to 500 euros, valid for 12 months from the date of purchase on any workshop on the platform, and the recipient chooses craft, place and date. It can arrive by email on the day of the party, or be printed and slipped into the card everyone signs. The same goes for a parent who is retiring: it is a way of saying «now you have time for yourself» without choosing for them.

To see what is near home: the workshop pages for the province of Rimini, the province of Pesaro and Urbino and Bologna. If you want to understand first what a workshop is like, there is what an artisan workshop is and why to try one.