From glassblowing in Corning to woodworking in the Adirondacks, here’s where to learn a craft that’s stood the test of time.
What’s the difference between a heritage craft and a hobby? They can overlap, but heritage crafts have undeniable roots, including an understanding of materials, design, and techniques, and a practice that has lasted for generations.
Heritage crafts offer a chance to celebrate all things analog. (No, scrolling TikTok is not a heritage craft! But you can find plenty of artisans sharing their talents on social media.) New York has a long history of heritage crafts, with a resurgence over the past several years as more people look for tactile activities to reconnect with their creativity.
Here’s a look at 10 workshops and studios throughout New York where you can experiment with a heritage craft that piques your interest. And who knows, maybe that hobby will become a business!
Glass
Corning Museum of Glass
Where: 1 Museum Way, Corning, NY
The world’s largest collection of glass—over 50,000 objects dating back 3,500 years—is in Corning, NY. But why just look at glass when you can make it? As part of its continued expansion since opening in 1951, the Corning Museum of Glass campus features a glassmaking studio and North America’s first casting center for large-scale creations.
Glassblowing projects vary in scope and size, with some experiences even available for young children as long as they can (according to the website) follow directions and blow out a birthday candle.
Those 14 and older can try enhanced glassblowing, learning how to inflate glass and use tools to create a vase, paperweight, or cup ($54). In-depth glassblowing ($165), an hour-long workshop with an experienced glassblower, follows the process from gathering material from the furnace to adding color and shaping the glass. Note: Objects need a day to cool before you can take them home. Shipping is available at an additional cost.
UrbanGlass
Where: 647 Fulton St., Brooklyn, NY
UrbanGlass, an open-access facility in Brooklyn, welcomes nearly 400 professional artists and designers to utilize its 17,000-square-foot studio. Everything you need for production is on-site, from six glory holes (reheating chambers) to a cold shop for cutting, grinding, and polishing, and a lampworking studio with 15 workstations.
Classes range from three hours to multi-week intensives for all levels and ages. Highlights include a three-hour paperweight party ($195), where participants manipulate molten glass and add simple structural elements, and a six-week traditional and experimental class ($1,350), where participants learn the fundamentals of glass fusing and slumping across different molds and materials.
Clay
Clay Art Center
Where: 40 Beech St., Port Chester, NY
Katherine Choy and Henry Okamoto opened the Clay Art Center in 1957 as a communal studio. Over the decades, it has expanded its programs to include classes, community outreach, and resident artist programs. Its Community Arts program awards over 1,000 full and partial scholarships, provides free classes, and engages schools and community groups in public art mosaic projects.
Friday night Maker Nights ($75) offer a three-hour beginner pottery wheel class. Students can pick a glaze, have their work fired, and pick it up later. Adult classes (17 and older) range from wheel-throwing and sculpture to surface design and handbuilding. (Prices and times vary.)
Gotham Pottery
Where: 146 W. 29th St. 5W, New York, NY
Gotham Pottery, located in the heart of Chelsea in Manhattan, specializes in accessible two-hour workshops where you can get your hands dirty with clay.
The small-group Pottery & Painting Workshop ($120) includes unlimited clay, a chance to try both wheel throwing and hand building, and same-day painting. For a bit of romance, the studio offers date nights ($250-$450 per couple). The BYOB evenings include two hours at the wheel.
Creative and Full-Color Date Nights share the studio with other couples, with each assigned a private instructor. For an even more romantic evening, the Private Candlelit Date provides an intimate studio just for you to live your “Ghost” fantasy.
Weaving and fiber arts
Catskill Weaving School
Where: The Shirt Factory, 77 Cornell St., #216, Kingston, NY and 999 Metropolitan Ave., #1A, Brooklyn, NY
Samantha Bittman founded the Catskill Weaving School, an artist-run school dedicated to weaving and textiles, in 2022. With a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bittman brings decades of experience to the heritage craft.
Classes range in time and scope. One-day tapestry weaving on a frame loom uses a portable tool to make wall hangings or small textiles to be pieced together ($185). Full-weekend weaving workshops ($375) start with hand-weaving basics using a 4-harness floor loom, followed by a range of weave structures. All materials and equipment are provided, and students can repeat the class to work on different projects or expand their techniques.
Weavers’ Guild of Rochester
Where: Piano Works Mall, 349 W. Commercial St., East Rochester, NY
Established in 2002, the Weavers’ Guild of Rochester’s Weaving and Fiber Arts Center offers year-round classes for both children and adults, keeping the heritage crafts of weaving, knitting, and tapestry-making alive.
Dozens of classes are offered, from afternoon spinning classes to make your own handspun yarn with various types of prepared wool ($52) to seven-week weaving classes ($178), where students plan a project, make a warp, dress a loom, weave, and finish a 4-shaft sample.
Knitting, crocheting, fabric dyeing, felting, and fiber sculpture workshops offer even more ways to experiment with textile heritage crafts.
Woodworking
Adirondack Folk School
Where: 51 Main St., Lake Luzerne, NY
Adirondack chairs date back to the early 20th century, and anyone who has spent a leisurely weekend at a lakehouse has likely curled up in one with a good book. (There’s even a new play premiering at Steppenwolf Theatre Company this fall titled “Adirondack Chair Circle.”)
Instructors at the Adirondack Folk School offer a range of courses from blacksmithing and herbalism to metal arts. But woodcarving, woodturning, and woodworking are particular specialties that draw on centuries of heritage craftsmanship.
Whether you’re turning a wood holiday ornament ($90-$105), creating a one-of-a-kind cutting board ($195-$220), or building a dovetail joint serving tray out of pine (two-day workshop, $285-$335), the result is a beautiful heirloom that can stay in your family for generations.
Hudson River Maritime Museum, The Woodworking School
Where: 50 Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY
The Hudson River Maritime Museum founded the Woodworking School in 2015 as an extension of its longtime commitment to preserving maritime craft traditions. The hands-on approach reveals a living history of the Hudson River that goes far beyond maritime craft.
The 2027 curriculum kicks off with a variety of courses, including a seed-starting rack for gardeners looking to get a jump on spring planting ($355-$389) and introductory woodturning to create a vessel using a lathe and cutting techniques ($247-$270).
A three-day workshop offers the opportunity to build a custom Shaker-style end table ($595-$653), best suited for those who have taken Foundations of Woodworking or have previous shop experience.
Jewelry and metalsmithing
Brooklyn Metal Works
Where: 640 Dean St., Brooklyn, NY
Head to Brooklyn to experience Brooklyn Metal Works’ 5,000-square-foot, fully equipped metalsmithing studio. Used by professionals and hobbyists alike, the studio offers dozens of tools to explore the heritage craft of metalsmithing.
Tasting courses offer a low-commitment opportunity to make a pendant, ring, or earrings in a few hours ($200). With a bit of experience, an eight-session metalsmith course ($620) teaches participants how to draw down and forge wire, building jewelry based on linear elements, including twisting, forging, looping, and doubling.
The Sag Harbor Jewelry School
Where: Private Studio, Sag Harbor, NY
Some of the most celebrated luxury brands in the country can be found in the Hamptons, including Rolex and Chanel. But under jewelry maker Eleni Prieston’s watchful eye at the Sag Harbor Jewelry School, the possibilities are endless.
One-on-one smithing lessons (16 hours for $600) offer a customizable bespoke experience, whether starting from scratch, reworking old pieces, or following Prieston, who specializes in Neo-Byzantine style. Completely tailored to the participant’s interests and experiences, it’s a rare opportunity to work with alloyed gold to create a one-of-a-kind piece.
