Let's Craft opens at Samanea New York in Westbury

Let's Craft opens in a new location at Samanea New York in Westbury. Credit: Karrie Anne Vitti

For her birthday, Liz Crew-Lee and a few of her friends took a cookie decorating class at Let’s Craft during its soft opening at Samanea New York in Westbury.

“We do a Christmas cookie exchange every year, so when we saw this we said, ‘This is right up our alley,’ ” says Crew-Lee, 63, of West Hempstead. “It was a great night — music playing and the atmosphere was terrific.”

The crafting space is the latest to pop up in the Samanea complex. Its July soft opening was more than three years in the making. Owner Karrie Anne Vitti first unveiled the space with a "gym for crafters" membership-based structure in February 2020 on Old Country Road, a course derailed one month later when it shuttered due to the pandemic. In its current location, Let’s Craft is focused on workshops for all ages. Classes include cookie decorating, sunset paint night, sip-and-pour candle making and DIY soap making. For families looking to craft together, the studio offers parent-and-me yoga, which includes painting a wooden mandala, themed macaroon painting and parent-and-me sugar scrub workshops.

“We want to be a central hub” for the crafting community, says Vitti.

Vitti, who ran Train My Teacher, a business where she taught teachers how to integrate technology into their curricula, will run some of the workshops herself and collaborate with other crafters to lead specialized workshops.

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In addition to classes, Let’s Craft will maintain its membership structure with plans for people to come outside of class hours to use industrial equipment — such as a laser engraver, 54-inch eco-solvent printer, embroidery equipment and heat presses — that the average person wouldn’t have at home. Pricing is being arranged based on what the crafter's needs may be, Vitti says.

Vitti wants to offer the space to people who want to create items themselves for special occasions, from weddings to birthday parties and bar and bat mitzvahs. She's also planning giveback days, she says, opening up the space to community and PTA groups to make such items as team logo merchandise.

“Community over competition has always been my main concept and I think connecting people is so important,” Vitti says.

For her part, Crew-Lee is already planning her group’s next Let’s Craft workshop: the Intentions, Affirmations & Gratitude workshop ($55) on Aug. 10. The class will focus on gratitude and be led by psychic medium Laurie Rose. Participants will join a guided healing meditation and design gratitude jars. Attendees will also receive a 10-minute psychic reading.

Prices range from $35 to $100 per workshop.

Let’s Craft at Samanea New York Mall, 1500 Old Country Rd., Westbury, 516-206-2509, letscraft.org