Soulcrafting is a peer Internet marketplace and community “that unbundles and redefines the idea of [consuming] local,” to borrow a phrase from Andy Weissman. The service allows anyone to discover and book local craftspeople for custom, project-based learning experiences. You can learn to prepare delicious, gluten-free desserts with an award-winning chef. Or build a custom coffee table with wood salvaged from your city. Or roll up your sleeves and create a custom skateboard with two brothers who began their careers building boats in the Caribbean.

Many of these experiences take place from the comfort and familiarity of your own home. Others allow you to set foot in workspaces that were previously off limits or hidden from view. Either way, Soulcrafting helps to dissolve barriers between craftspeople and consumers, and between consumers and the crafts themselves. You learn about a new craft by making stuff. You learn about your community by meeting people. And you learn about yourself by trying new things and getting your hands dirty. What’s more, you can do all of these things at prices that are competitive with simply buying the products and services you wanted to begin with (and sometimes at a discount).

One of the most compelling components of all Soulcrafting experiences is the notion of apprenticeship. Customers learn by doing while under the watchful eye of a master craftsman. Which is not to say that she will be a “professional” or operating a business in the traditional sense. Many Soulcrafters are hobbyists who have honed their craft over many years in basement workshops and backyard gardens. Some have day jobs. Others are retired. And others still are hoping to turn their hobbies into day jobs so that they can eventually retire.

No matter how they honed their considerable talents, many of these craftspeople have few outlets for expression outside of their workshops, studios, and commercial kitchens. And very few are able to create their own platforms and consumer brands: they sell their products through stores, restaurants, and other distribution channels, losing their ability to form direct relationships with their customers along the way.

Soulcrafting makes it possible for craftspeople to recover this lost connection by teaching and sharing their art. It also makes it easier for craftspeople to be entrepreneurs and for consumers to uncover unique products and experiences taking shape all around them. The Soulcrafting community is built on relationships. Our customers work with real people in their area to build the products and skills they want and need.

The diversity of crafts and craftspeople in the greater Denver area alone is staggering and we’re just getting started. We invite you to take a look.