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Top 11 Berlin shops for homemade Christmas gifts

Do it yourself this festive season with homemade gifts

atmosphärische Weihnachtsmotive
© visitBerlin, Foto: Mo Wüstenhagen

Christmas is all about showing you care – and there’s no better way than with your own homemade Christmas gifts. Let your imagination take flight this festive season and get crafty with quirky and innovative DIY presents. Ideal for people who are conscious of the planet and their wallet, homemade gifts prove creativity is a resource that’s always in plentiful supply. Here are a few of the best Berlin shops to pick up supplies and tips on getting out of your creative comfort zone this Christmas.

Tip 1: Say it with clay with ceramics from de Hoog pottery studio

Frau bei Shoppingbummel
© Getty Images, Foto: blackCAT


Add a personal touch to your Christmas presents this year – literally – and make your own handmade ceramic pottery at de Hoog. Run by Verena de Hoog, a contemporary ceramic artist, this studio in hip Friedrichshain is the ideal place to get behind the pottery wheel for the first time or perfect your skills by the kiln. The studio offers a busy calendar of regular classes and workshops for amateur and experienced potters alike. Take inspiration from de Hoog’s own stripped-back contemporary style or create a design that’s all your own for the ultimate handmade gift.

Where: Jungstraße 7, Friedrichshain

de Hoog Keramik

Tip 2: Make the stuff of miracles at Tempelhof temple of creativity Selfmade

Tailors
© tony c french

Home to workshops, exhibitions, and a vast Stoff&Stil fabric and crafts floor, the Selfmade Store is designed for community, creativity and more. Even the beautiful Baroque building it calls home in Berlin’s Tempelhof district seems to breathe inspiration. Complete with a Fairtrade café and an open ethos promoting creativity for all, Selfmade is the perfect spot to pick up fabric and inspiration for your next project.  If you’re looking to sew a lovely gift this Christmas, but don’t have the kit you need to put together a masterpiece, you can stitch up a storm at the six free sewing stations. A Selfmade masterpiece.

Where: Tempelhofer Damm 228, Tempelhof

Selfmade

Tip 3: Make magic with materials from Modulor

Family crafts at Christmas in Berlin
Family crafts at Christmas in Berlin © GettyImages, Foto: mediaphotos

Do it yourself – and make it yourself: that’s the ethos at Modulor, a modern materials store in Berlin’s iconic Kreuzberg district. The company sells minimalist contemporary furnishings alongside quality sustainable materials cut to measure that you can use to turn your own space into a paradise. If you’ve got a loved one who loves their home office and you fancy sprucing up their space as a special surprise, head to Modulor for the finest materials to make it happen.

Where: Prinzenstraße 85, Kreuzberg

Modulor

Tip 4: Making candles with twinkling lights and fire & flame

Candle shop Lichterglanz the candle manufactory from the inside with colourful candles
Handmade candles from the Kerzenmanufaktur Lichterglanz in Berlin © visitBerlin, Foto: Mo Wüstenhagen

Candles are as much a part of Christmas as the scent of biscuits and pine needles. At Lichterglanz and Feuer & Flamme you can try out the art of candle making for yourself. And it really is child's play!

In the dipping process, you dip the wick into hot wax again and again. This creates your candle layer by layer. If you don't have that much time, you can also start with a pre-made blank. Alternatively, at Lichterglanz you can also mould candles into different shapes, decorate candles or make wax bowls or lanterns. Please register by calling 030 43 77 98 30

During the two-hour workshop at Feuer & Flamme, you will make a total of four candles, as one pair always has to cool down. Of course, you can also make more candles. For your own personal candle, you have a choice of different wick lengths and twelve different colours, which you can also mix. Registration is required by calling 0151 508 111 49.

Where: Lichterglanz, Räuschstraße 17A, Reinickendorf | Feuer& Flamme, Chodowieckistraße 2, Prenzlauer Berg

Lichterglanz

Tip 5: Get a lust for lace and more at knitter’s delight Die WollLust

Traditionsfest in den Späth’schen Baumschulen
© Späth’sche Baumschulen/Daniela Incoronato

Needles at the ready – knitting is a great way to make a memorable Christmas gift. Die WollLust is a fab spot to stock up on all things knitting. The Kreuzberg boutique has been a makers’ byword for quality supplies and innovative designs since 2005. Known for its exclusive designer wool and lace yarn, you’ll find everything you need here to make something special, from wool and yarn made in-house or by well-known manufacturers, through to needles and patterns. In pre-pandemic times, the team’s expert knitters were also known to hold the odd workshop or two. Knit one, purl one, knit one… You never lose the knack.

Where: Mittenwalder Straße 49, Kreuzberg

WollLust

Tip 6: Put your own stamp on the festive season at Stempelbar

Young girl makes Christmas card with snowman and Christmas tree from bird's eye view
Girl decorates and adorns Christmas card with modelling clay © GettyImages, Foto: Elena Kurkutova

A Berlin crafting institution, Stempelbar is a stamp and scrapbooking emporium in Charlottenburg. Founded in the 1990s with a focus on the art of creative stamps and stampmaking, it sealed the deal on its success in the early 2000s with a move into the newly popular art of scrapbooking. Pick up a stamp with a quirky message or motif and use it to decorate your Christmas cards, envelopes and wrapping paper, or rummage through their craft materials to find everything you need to create a wonderful scrapbook of memories for a friend or loved one – another way to put your personal stamp on a gift they’ll love.

Where: Weimarer Straße 17, Charlottenburg

Stempelbar

Tip 7: Get a bead on jewellery-making at Perlenbar

Person vor geschmücktem Baum
© Getty Images, Foto: Oleksii Hrecheniuk 500px

Hopping from one ‘bar’ to another, our craft-shop crawl takes us to Perlenbar, a hidden gem in the art of jewellery-making and crafting in Berlin’s Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district. The shop offers an incredible array of beads made from all kinds of materials – plastic, glass, ceramic and more – in a wide range of colours, shapes and sizes, as well as the practical bits and pieces needed to turn them into stunning jewellery and mementoes. Let the variety inspire you to create a gift your loved ones can wear and think of you wherever they go. If you need a little confidence before you get cracking, the store also offers monthly workshops on beading and macramé knitting for budding designers looking to hone their craft – stop by or call the store to book your place.

Where: Uhlandstraße 156, Wilmersdorf

Perlenbar

Tip 8: Visit crafting experts at Hobbyshop Wilhelm Rüther

Creative crafts
© GettyImages, Foto: vladans

Originally based in Schöneberg and now expanding across the city, old-school craft supplies store Hobbyshop Wilhelm Rüther has all the tools and materials you need to make your customised Christmas gifts sing. From colourful arts supplies to practical tools, their range is as vast as their expertise. If you’ve got the vision but can’t yet get your creative vision it off the ground, chat to the friendly team – who are also on hand to fix dyed silk scarves or fire your ceramics in their own kiln.

Where: Goltzstraße 37, Schöneberg, with branches in Spandau, Tegel and Prenzlauer Berg

Hobbyshop

Tip 9: Make modern gifts with love at mit Liebe selbstgemacht

Beautiful girl making Christmas cards.
© GettyImages, Foto: skynesher

Right now, crafting is definitely cool. Social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are packed with unique ideas to inspire creativity and encourage the joy of crafts. With her quirky craft store – its name literally translates as ‘homemade with love’ – Mirka Löwenhagen is well and truly part of the modern makers’ movement, sharing her work online and offering fascinating workshops on scrapbooking, art journaling, mixed media and more. Come up with some Christmassy ideas of your own and join her creative community for craft materials, classes and more.

Where: Greifswalder Straße, Prenzlauer Berg

MitLiebe selbstgemacht

Tip 10: Bind your own books at the Friedrichshagen paper workshop

Postcard from the Papierwerkstatt Friedrichshagen
Postcard from the Papierwerkstatt Friedrichshagen © visitBerlin, Foto: Eveline Klink/ideenmanufaktur

You can find beautiful things made from paper and cardboard at the Friedrichshagen paper worksho (Papierwerkstatt Friedrichshagen). But that's not all. The old art of bookbinding is still practised in the paper workshop, and some valuable old books have already been given a new spine or cover here. There are also workshops on the subject of bookbinding, where you can learn step by step how to create your own personalised book.

Where: Rudolf-Seiffert-Straße 3, Lichtenberg

Friedrichshagen Paper Workshop

Papierwerkstatt Friedrichshagen

Tip 11: Warm up their winter with wool from Wolle Rödel

© GettyImages, Foto: Gpointstudio

There’s nothing more comforting than winter woollens – they make the perfect festive gift. If you’re getting ready to knit a festive hit, head to Wolle Rödel, where wool is the game (it‘s all in the name!). This emporium for hobby knitters is the perfect spot to pick up everything you need to make cosy gifts for winter nights – with yarns including magnificent mohair, merino, alpaca, cashmere and much more.

Where: Joachimsthaler Straße 41, Charlottenburg

Wolle Rödel