What started as a picnic for craft aficionados at Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park two years ago has now blossomed into a group with over 1,400 members across age groups. Next week, this group — Crafty — will celebrate its 100th meetup with a one-day fest in the city.
Reminiscing about how it all started, founder Rahul Jadhav says he used to crochet bookmarks and coasters and gift them to friends. When his peers reached out to him to learn the craft, he started teaching them at his residence. “Eventually, we thought, why not do the same thing, but as a picnic at Cubbon Park? I shared a reel about it on my Instagram account, and more friends were interested in attending. That’s how the Crafty meetups started as a crochet community, but it has grown over the last two years into a community that welcomes all arts and crafts,” shares Rahul, who is an independent news publisher and runs the entertainment news site, Wiki of Thrones, that has over four million followers on social media.
Members at Cubbon Park
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Today, their WhatsApp group has 1,400 members, and 19,000 on Instagram. These members pursue various art forms: crochet, knitting, embroidery, punch needling, painting, sculpting, and more.
“Some members are interested in jewellery making, paper crafts, upcycling, art journaling, and resin art. One of our group members, Meetali, has a portable charkha, and she spins cotton into yarn on the charkha. The list is endless!” says Rahul, 38, who hosts meet-ups every Sunday at Cubbon Park.
A member at one of the Crafty meet-ups
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To be held next weekend, Crafty Bazaar will have close to 50 stalls set up by members from the group. “We have received submissions for a lot of different arts and crafts, some of which include crochet, embroidery, wood work, hand-made jewellery, eco-printed clothes, paintings, punch needle, quilling, paper weaving art, and crystal beaded bags,” says Rahul, adding that these stalls will be smaller than usual exhibition tables “because we wanted to provide an opportunity to more group members to showcase their products”.
In addition to purchasing handcrafted products, visitors can participate in a range of workshops. These include eco printing (₹3,000), a hands-on tie-dye and bandhej session (₹799), beginner’s Tunisian crochet (₹1,000), DIY finger knitting (₹999), coffee affirmation art(₹1,000), notebook embroidery (₹499), and more.
Muneef Khan (left) with a fellow crafter
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Muneef Khan, a learning and development specialist by profession, who is also passionate about knitting, crochet, punch needling, and loom knitting, has been a regular at the Crafty meet-ups. “I started with crochet because one of my friend’s sisters was expecting a baby, and I wanted to create something handmade so I used my grandmother’s materials to make a cardigan,” he says, adding that all his learning has been through YouTube.
Soon, one thing led to another, and Muneef reached out to Rahul via a friend. “The group started with just seven or eight of us, and now it has grown massively. This group is about socialising, meeting like-minded people, and Rahul gives us the space to be who we are. We have also received opportunities to participate in events like A Hundred Hands.”
Commemorating the 100th meet-up with an event was important for Rahul. “I wanted to provide a platform for our community and ensure that they get to keep 100% of the revenue. In addition, we are ticketing the event, and I am also looking for sponsors.”
The Crafty community
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Neha Lal, an embroidery artist and affirmation artist, joined the group courtesy of her eight-year-old daughter, who knits. “She was given a kit for her birthday two years ago, and we were struggling to get it right for months. One day, I was out with a friend for coffee, discussing how hard it was to get knitting right. At the next table, I spotted Muneef knitting and approached him to teach my daughter. This meeting led me to Crafty, where I rekindled my joy for art that I had put on the back burner for years,” she says.
A member with her creation
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Over the last two years, Rahul has met many people at the meet-ups, and says he has realised one thing: that many have full-time jobs and make these products in their spare time. “They also try to sell these products, but they usually struggle to find buyers. I wanted to figure out a solution to help crafters reach customers and make money from selling their art.” Soon, a Crafty website will launch, and Rahul aims for this to be a “discovery platform where people can find talented artists”.
On July 18, Saturday, from 11 am to 8 pm. At Sabha, Kamaraj Road. Entry and workshop tickets at offlyn.life/e/rrmfWRK
For details, visit @craftymeets on Instagram
Published – July 09, 2026 08:33 am IST
