Yu&Me Books Lunar New Year Workshop
Lunar New Year Clay Charms Workshop ♥
Hosted at Yu & Me Books, led by Warm Clay Co. and organized by Juicebox
This year, I had the honor of collaborating with juiceboxnewyork and Warm Clay Co. to host a craft workshop at Yu & Me Books! It was my first time helping run an event like this, and it truly was such a joy to see the community engaged in a meaningful way.
But first, a little background
For those who are unfamiliar, Yu & Me Books is a bookstore based in Chinatown, NYC. It is the first Asian-woman owned bookstore founded by Lucy Yu, and since opening in 2021 Yu & Me has hosted several community events like open-mic nights, author meet & greets, popups and more!
Yu & Me Books @ 44 Mulberry Street
About the workshop
For this event — Yu & Me Books partnered with Suzzy from Warm Clay Co. and Zack from Juicebox New York to host their first ever craft workshop in the bookstore!
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founded by Suzzy in 2021, the shop features all her entirely handmade clay charms made with love in Brooklyn ♥
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founded by Zack in 2023, Juicebox New York organizes local events that encourage community building through exploring creative outlets!
In honor of Lunar New Year, Suzzy led an intimate-sized group of 15 through the process of creating 3 handmade clay charms — one mandarin, one lucky red envelope, and (my favorite) one dumpling.
To help supplement materials, I supplied brand new Frog & Toad bookmarks for workshop participants to hook their charms onto :)
(Behind the scenes)
An hour before the event, Zack, Suzzy, myself, and Yu & Me staff helped transform the space from its normal bookstore set up into a cozy workshop room!
Clay Charms Workshop!
Suzzy kicked off the event by sharing history of the Lunar New Year holiday — and then did a beginner-friendly walkthrough of how to work with clay.
Everyone was so excited to get started — you could really feel the energy in the room!
Suzzy demonstrating how to work with clay, with Wes (Yu&Me Books staff) behind the counter — and Zack sitting on the left
Once the workshop got started, participants had 90 minutes to hand craft their Lunar New Year clay charms. For many in the room it was their first time every working with clay — it was such a pleasure to watch the community come together and have fun exploring!
People were having so much fun, that most participants stayed until 9:30PM! (30 minutes after the original workshop time). It was so heartwarming to see how much joy people had creating their own charms.
Suzzy holding a pan of finished charms, fresh out of the oven!
In the end…
(my first ever clay charm!)
Each participant left with their own handmade clay charms (and kintsugi print bookmarks!). Given that it was first time Yu & Me Books used the space to host an event like this, there were many unknowns and nerves initially.
Thankfully, things worked out even better than expected — overall, the event was a huge success and only the start of many more to come! <3
If you are interested to collaborate with Zack to host an event in NYC — message him at hello@juiceboxnewyork.com!
