Scrap Society is Canberra’s newest way to get crafty and make new connections

Posted on 14 April, 2025

For people in their 20s, it can be hard to make new friends with similar interests.

That’s why 22-year-old Canberran Brooke Corkhill has come up with her own solution – Scrap Society, a club for creativity and craft.

“I had seen a lot of collage, creative events and craft nights in other Australian cities that are a bit bigger than Canberra… and also in the US,” she says.

“I really wanted to attend those events, but rather than flying to New York just for a craft night, I thought ‘There are so many crafty people in Canberra, why not host something here?’”

“I am my target market because this is something I would love to attend if someone else were running it, so I thought if it’s not there, I might as well make it.”

While Brooke wanted to introduce a space for people to embrace their creative side, she also wanted it to be a way for new connections to be formed.

Brooke Corkhill.

“I know so many people who are from Canberra originally and don’t live on a university campus or people who aren’t in university and are just living and working, find it quite hard to meet new people,” she says.

“There’s not a lot of environments for that which aren’t alcohol based or have those wholesome, sweet, creative, fun, safe vibes, so I thought creating an environment where people can meet other kind individuals would be amazing.”

Scrap Society was launched at the end of December 2024, with their inaugural event taking place on 23 March, inviting participants to get crafty for three hours via scrapbooking, junk journalling or collaging. Tickets sold out a few weeks prior.

“My dream would be people could walk away [from the event] with a coffee organised with someone they met, or to go to an art gallery, or have another crafternoon with a few people from the event,” says Brooke.

Every level of experience was welcomed, with Brooke aiming to keep the evening accessible for all skill levels.

“Everyone [got] their own little A4 folder full of different stuff, with different materials, and there [was] shared stickers, paper and things like that floating around.”

“If you have done this many times before, you can sit down and lock into it, but there [was] also a journal idea card with prompts and suggestions to get someone started.”

Wanting to show that being creative doesn’t always have to come with a high price tag, Brooke reached out to Vinnies to see if they’d be interested in helping her source materials for the first craft evening.

“They said they are super happy to support local arts events and this partnership was something they were really excited for.”

“They were wonderful in working with me, giving me some vouchers to spend. So, I [thrifted] a bunch of craft materials over the past few weeks.”

“I definitely wanted to emphasise older, second-hand materials because I want people to know that you can grab a book for $2 from Vinnies and that can be enough to create something.”

“Crafty things can get so ridiculously expensive and that’s not the point of what this is.”

 

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Seeing the tickets sell out a few weeks before the event was an incredibly validating feeling for Brooke.

“I had a lot of imposter syndrome going in and throughout the process, so many times I’ve doubted myself and thought ‘No one would want to come’, particularly before announcing the event and selling any tickets.”

“It takes a lot of work to run an event and organise it, even things like building a website in the background. But now it feels amazing and like everything was so worth it.”

All her hard work paid off, with the first event a success!

“It was a dream come true and I feel like it was my vision come to life,” says Brooke.

“I’ve gotten so many nice messages after the event and people asking when the future events are, so I feel like it was the perfect kick-off of the community.”

Alongside managing her new business, Brooke is studying a double degree at the Australian National University of Commerce and Arts, majoring in Economics and English literature and working two jobs.

“One of the biggest things I’ve learnt throughout this process is that you can have it all, but you can’t have it all at the same time,”

“I have found prioritisation really important, … it’s about trading off and prioritising, particularly in high assessment periods. But so far, I’ve been able to get everything done!” Brooke laughs.

“Doing this on top of two jobs and full-time uni is a busy life, but a very full life. Scrap Society gives me so much joy, I love working on it and doing things for it and having people be excited about it, so I think there’s more to come.”

With their first event proving popular, the future of Scrap Society looks bright.

“I think there’s more to come, there’s a few ideas in the mix,” Brooke shares.

“I’m currently in talks with venues for the second event, which is so exciting! At this stage, hopefully [an event] in April or May, but I think tentatively, there is definitely more to come.”

“I can’t wait, I feel like there is so much more to be done.”

Photography: Anita Cordwell