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.
