36: These tours star crafts and design
Shop in Jaipur, market-hop in Mexico, or make pottery in Morocco with 8 cool travel companies.
Group travel can be a bit like high school: Find your tribe—art class creatives, chill lacrosse players—and the experience will be magnificent and result in lasting friendships. For me, that means I seek out tours and trips to connect me to crafts, design, or fashion as well as likeminded fellow travelers.
In Argentina, Shop Hop Buenos Aires took me to secret stores such as a glam 1920s apartment where a young woman was selling vintage dresses and tango shoes worthy of Eva Perón. (I went home with a swirly polka-dotted skirt I still treasure.) In Luang Prabang, Laos, I bonded with classmates and teachers while learning to weave silk at Op Pop Tock. Spoiler alert: I’m not a master weaver, but I’ll never forget the click-clacking of my loom and the misty Mekong River views.
“During and after the pandemic there was so much growth in people wanting experiences—taking online classes or learning something new,” says Kate Watson-Smyth, the British home design writer behind the Substack Mad About the House. That’s why, after she rehabbed a villa near Turin, Italy, she began hosting interiors-focused retreats last year. Travelers participate in design classes, shop at Turin’s vintage market, and meet other style-mad souls.
“We get an interesting range of people on our trips, from professional craftspeople to 9-to-5 tech workers who want to turn on the other side of their brain,” says Caitlin Garcia-Ahern, the founder of Thread Caravan tours. Her company leads small groups to places such as Panama (learn about mola embroidery and stay on a boat) and Ladakh India (wool dyeing and weaving in the Himalayas).
Here are eight organizations offering guided trips focused on design and crafts. Some involve getting your hands dirty learning to paint, throw pots, or dye yarn; others plunge into the markets, shops, and creative scenes in spots from Jaipur to Johannesburg.
And watch this space, since I’ll be launching my own Souvenirist Retreats to the American Southwest and North Africa soon. Expect the blend of art, history, quirk and yep—shopping—that you read about here.
Ace Camps Travel
Artists-in-residence (Japanese culture expert Prairie Stuart Wolfe, painter Heather Chontos) often lead these popular small-group retreats in places such as Oaxaca, Mexico, Shikoku, Japan, or Hoi An, Vietnam. Trip I wanna take: Basket weaving, batiking, and a Kruger National Park safari in Eswatini and South Africa.
John C. Campbell Craft School
Spend a week or a weekend at this Appalachian folk crafts school in the mountains of western North Carolina and you’ll learn to carve wood into stringed instruments, transform beads into colorful jewelry, or felt a chic hat. Students bunk in 1930s cabins and enjoy down-home meals daily; on weekends, expect bluegrass concerts and other performances. While you’re there: Check out the gift shop for carved wooden spoons and glass jewelry.
Luna Zorro
Delve into food, design, and weaving in Mexico City and Guatemala with Molly Berry, the founder of Luna Zorro, an ethical textile company based in Antigua, Guatemala. In Mexico, expect artists’ studio visits, a cooking class, and a tour of architect Luis Barragán’s Casa Pedregal; in Antigua, where Berry is based, you’ll score visits to a legendary artisan market and weaving lessons amid the city’s pastel-hued colonial architecture.
Souvenirist reader Laura Pritchard took Luna Zorro’s Antigua tour last year. “My group was all women ranging in age from mid 30s to late 70s,” she says. “Most of us had some knowledge of textiles, and everyone was an avid traveler who made full use of the free time that the trip allowed as well.”
Mad About the House
Several times a year, acclaimed British design journalist Kate Watson-Smyth hosts mini-breaks in and around her restored Italian villa outside of Turin. Guests stay in an elegant hotel in a restored factory and enjoy talks on home decor, visits to a vintage market, and lots of good food.
Passport to Folk Art Trips
Santa Fe’s International Folk Art Market hosts dozens of artisans from around the world each July. Its organizers also put on crafts- and culture-focused group tours to places including Cuba, Provence, and Oaxaca. Trip I wanna take: A West African journey with stops to work with batik artists in Elmina, Ghana and witness a voodoo ceremony in Benin.
Thread Caravan
Travelers live and learn alongside Moroccan potters in the Rif Mountains, Peruvian weavers in the Andes, and other endemic groups in these thoughtful trips concentrated on community engagement and preserving traditions. For crafts newbies: “All of our trips are beginner friendly,” Garcia-Ahern says. “We recently had people on a knitting trip to Iceland who had never picked up needles before, and they did fine.” Trip I wanna take: Trekking with women climbers in Bolivia, with stops for blanket-making lessons and tastes of village life.
Travel with Grant
Interior designer Grant K. Gibson knows how to shop—and travel stylishly—in bucket-list destinations such as Istanbul and Jaipur. Sign up for a small-group week with him in Rajasthan or Mexico and bring an extra suitcase: participants have hauled back everything from bedazzled mirrors to piles of Moroccan carpets. “People who come on my trips are a mix of designers and people interested in design,” says Gibson. “They want to see beautiful stores, great interiors, and all the cultural sites.”
Vacation with an Artist
Choose your own adventure with VAWAA, a service connecting travelers to mini apprenticeships with dozens of makers around the globe. Experiences tend to be one-on-one and last two to five days; you’ll stay either with the artist or in nearby lodgings. Choices range from learning how to make your own perfume in Los Angeles to schooling in bamboo crafts and construction in Nepal.
I’ve been looking for an art trip option, so this is great!