City Hall Leather Crafting Workshop at S$78: Bynd Artisan

Bynd Artisan runs its leather crafting workshop at the Raffles City Atelier, 252 North Bridge Road, #03-24, Singapore 179103, with classes priced from S$68 and the store open Monday to Sunday, 10am to 10pm. Every leather class on the brand's site is currently marked Sold out and tagged by request, so a seat comes from an enquiry rather than a checkout button. Here is how that works, and which class deserves the request.

The craft in this atelier is older than the mall around it. According to Bynd Artisan's own story page, Chan Koon Song started a small bindery workshop in 1942, and in 1947 he bought a shophouse on Mohamed Sultan Road for what became the Goy Liang Book-Making Company. His granddaughter Winnie Chan joined the business in 1994 as the third generation of management.

In 2014 Winnie Chan and her husband James Quan opened the first Bynd Artisan store, turning factory know-how into a retail counter where customers watch the work happen. The same page says crafting workshops are conducted every month. At Raffles City that means leather classes share floor space with shelves of finished wallets and notebooks, so the samples you are copying sit a few steps from the table.

The class most people start with is the Basic Leather Card Holder Workshop at S$78. The product page lists it at Bynd Artisan Raffles City, 1.5 hours long, Basic level and recommended for ages 16 and above. You learn cutting and punching, the two skills every later project depends on, and you choose your own colour and hardware from the atelier's stock.

The detail that sets this class apart is the offcut. In the brand's words, using the same piece of leather, you create a matching key tag. So the S$78 covers a card holder for your pocket and a small tag for your keys, cut from one hide in one colour. It makes a tidy pair for a gift, and the key tag is a low-risk place to practise before the bigger piece.

Beyond the card holder, the Raffles City workshop list runs through travel and bag pieces. The Leather Passport Holder Workshop costs S$88, lasts two hours and produces a holder with card slots, and its description adds stitching to the cutting and punching. The Leather Luggage Tag Workshop is S$78 and makes a holder that works as either a luggage tag or a key tag.

For pouches, the Multipurpose Leather Pouch Workshop costs S$68 and is pitched as a pouch for your phone, cash and small documents. The Leather Pouch with Knotted Charm Workshop costs S$88 and teaches two knotting styles alongside the stitching, finished with charms you pick. The Rocking Horse Bag Charm Workshop, also S$68, is the newest leather listing, published in July 2026, and has you hand stitch and assemble each part of a small horse.

On the website every leather class shows Sold out with an Enquire Here button, and the workshop listing tags them By Request. That is not a dead end. The workshops page says that if you are interested in a class but the dates are unsuitable or not listed, you should reach out via the contact form to enquire or arrange a session. Name the class and two or three dates that suit you.

Public sign-ups are one person per booking, and the brand states that sign-up is strictly for one participant only. Friends who want to sit together each need their own enquiry, ideally sent together so staff can group them. Private sessions for companies go to commune@byndartisan.com and need a minimum of 5 pax, so the five-person rule applies only to team events, not to solo learners.

The rules after booking are strict. Anyone under 21 must be accompanied by an adult for the entire session. If you need to move your slot, email or call at least 4 hours before the start time. Only one reschedule is allowed, and exchanges or refunds are not offered at any point. A no-show without notice loses the reschedule option, so treat the date as fixed once it is agreed.

For a first leather class, ask for the card holder. It is the only leather listing here labelled Basic, it is short enough for an afternoon, and the matching key tag means you finish with two usable objects instead of one. If your aim is travel gear, the passport holder at S$88 is the natural next step once you have handled a punch and a cutting edge before.

Our honest judgement is to skip the Rocking Horse Bag Charm as an opening class, even though at S$68 it is the cheapest leather option. Its page grades it Intermediate - Advance, and the work is assembling many small hand-stitched parts. Beginners tend to spend the 1.5 hours fighting tiny pieces rather than learning technique. Book it as a second visit, when the stitching already feels familiar.

If your enquiry does not produce a date in time, the nearest fallback is Crafune's studio inside Funan, a short walk south along North Bridge Road from Raffles City. Crafune sells its Funan classes online with bookable slots, and its Basic Cardholder Workshop at Funan Mall costs S$75 and runs for two hours in vegetable-tanned leather, with stitching rather than the punch-and-rivet style used at Bynd.

The trade-off is clear. Crafune gives you a confirmed seat without waiting on a reply, while Bynd gives you the matching key tag and a wider colour wall. If a birthday or a visitor's last weekend sets your deadline, book Funan. If you can wait a week or two for Bynd to come back with dates, the Raffles City class is the more polished keepsake.

Raffles City sits above City Hall MRT on the North South and East West lines, and Esplanade on the Circle Line is linked underground too, so you can arrive without stepping outside. Take the escalators to Level 3 and look for the atelier's leather and paper displays. Come ten minutes early so you have time to study the colour wall before the class starts.

Afterwards, walk west instead of heading for the waterfront. Cross Stamford Road and follow Hill Street to the Armenian Church, the white neoclassical chapel tucked behind its garden wall. From there, turn onto Armenian Street for the Peranakan Museum, whose beaded slippers and embroidered textiles show another Singapore tradition of fine handwork, then climb the steps into Fort Canning Park for shade and a view back over the Civic District.

Address: Bynd Artisan, Raffles City Shopping Centre Atelier, 252 North Bridge Road, #03-24, Singapore 179103. Store hours are Monday to Sunday, 10am to 10pm. Workshop enquiries go through the contact form on byndartisan.com, and company sessions go to commune@byndartisan.com. Nearest stations are City Hall and Esplanade MRT.

Leather class prices on the official site: card holder with key tag S$78, luggage tag S$78, passport holder S$88, pouch with knotted charm S$88, multipurpose pouch S$68 and rocking horse bag charm S$68. All materials and tools are provided. Recommended age is 16 and above, under-21s need an adult present, and each sign-up covers one participant.

If you want the day planned around an enquiry that may land on a weekday, the Karpo APP can suggest a lunch near City Hall and line up the Fort Canning walk for after the class. Keep your class confirmation email handy, since the one-reschedule rule and the four-hour notice period are applied exactly as written on the booking page.