Inspiration

Hands-on creativity

A selection of great workshops to add flair to your week

Mar. 2025

4 min.

Experiment, mix, craft, and play with different textures, materials, colors, and shapes: let your hands do the talking and your imagination run wild!

Whether you want to make soap, dabble with clay, or learn all about embroidery, here is a short selection of arts and crafts workshops in the Lake Annecy area to awaken your inner artist.

Savaé

Enter Anne-Cécile’s bubbly world of soap

Would you like to make your own all-natural soaps that are extremely soft on your skin? Anne-Cécile Burgal Béguin will teach you all about the fascinating world of cold saponification, an ancestral way of making soap that does not require heat and allows you to conserve all of the benefits that vegetable oils and body butters provide.

A former quality-control manager for a large company, Anne-Cécile decided to change careers to create Savaé, her own brand of soaps. Uncompromising on quality – obviously – when it comes to both raw materials and the finished product, she selects ingredients from suppliers in and around Annecy and, as part of a zero-waste approach, she even offers inexpensive imperfect bars of soap that are either too small, not “pretty enough,” not perfectly rectangular, or with a blemished logo. Either way, they still do a great job keeping you clean!

Anne-Cécile runs workshops every week in her laboratory in Epagny where she explains all there is to know about oils, lye, and natural additives that transform a simple mix into a custom bar of soap. Then, it’s your turn to play chemist to make your own soap.

€59 for a 2-hour workshop / €49 for students.

Savaé

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Chez El

Ceramics mania with Elodie

At Chez EL, feel right at home. In the neighborhood near the train station, Elodie Loyer recently opened a workshop that is as warm and welcoming as it is unique. It serves as a space for creative workshops, a coffee shop, and a small selection of clothing, accessories, and decorative objects. There are a thousand and one reasons to step through the door in this boutique-workshop designed by Elodie and where everything revolves around ceramics: throwing, shaping, and painting. Whether taking a course, a lesson or two, or simply creating on your own, the possibilities are endless. She even organizes ceramic-themed brunches.

Focus on ceramic-painting workshops

When you arrive, choose the piece that you would like to decorate. Staff will first explain the techniques used to paint ceramics and then set you up at a table for you to put your creativity to work. The place feels like a hive, with everyone buzzing around in a friendly atmosphere focused on their artwork. At the end of the workshop, you will leave your piece of art for staff to fire and enamel. A few days later you can pick it up, glossy and ready for everyday use at home.

Whether stoneware, biscuit earthenware, or porcelain, the workshop begins with choosing a type of material to paint. Ideal for flatter shades, stoneware offers more freedom in creating surface effects. You can slip paint, engrave unique patterns, and do so much more. Biscuit earthenware, which has already been fired once, is perfect for drawings or sketching lines. Porcelain, with its fine and smooth finish, is ideal for line art. You can paint directly on the enamel to add finer details.

The workshop lasts for two hours.

Chez El

AnloMiyuki

Anne-Laurie and her talented needles

Learn the detailed art of embroidery when taught by Anne-Laurie Adine, your welcoming and friendly instructor. She offers participants the chance to learn to work needle and thread through three different, very accessible workshops.

First-time embroidery workshops

Learn all about the various types of stitches used in modern embroidery (French knot, back stitch, running stitch, satin stitch, cross stitch, etc.). Once you decorate the fabric with a floral motif, stretch it across the hoop and begin to embroider. This introductory workshop focuses on floral motifs, offering participants the opportunity to learn several different types of stitches. To augment your work of art and motivate you to repeat the endeavor, choose among the wide variety of fabrics and colorful DMC threads that Anne-Laurie provides.

€50 for a 2.5-hour workshop

Clothing and accessory customization workshops

This workshop is for those who would like to provide a personal touch to their clothing. Bring a favorite piece of clothing with you (a jean jacket, t-shirt, sweatshirt, an accessory, etc.) and give it a second life by embroidering a decorative motif, words of inspiration, or a heart—you get to choose how to customize your clothes.

€50 for a 2.5-hour workshop

Punch needle workshops

Unlike classic embroidery, where you pass the needle and thread back and forth through the fabric, punch needling with a hollow needle lets you stitch on just one side. This fun and easy-to-learn technique offers you the chance to create high-relief motifs with a loop effect for a truly stunning result. You can even make stuffed toys.

€45 for a 1.5-hour workshop

Glass bead workshops

Anne-Laurie designs brooches and jewelry using high-quality Japanese seed beads from the renowned brand Miyuki. With a finely detailed weaving technique, she creates well-defined, harmonious motifs. She enjoys teaching this technique through one-on-one workshops, offering students the chance to make a brooch or a pair of earrings.

Heart brooch workshop: €60 / Earrings workshop: €79

AnloMiyuki

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