Haji Lane Leather Goods Shop With a S$95 Class: Crafune

Crafune is a Singapore leather goods shop where most customers leave with something they stitched themselves. Its Haji Lane studio sits upstairs at 38A Haji Lane #02-01, Singapore 189231, and the main product is a booked class rather than a bag on a shelf. A three-hour Cardholder Workshop costs S$95, a Bifold Wallet Workshop runs about six to eight hours for S$189, and the brand says all tools and materials are provided. You choose a date and timeslot on crafune.com before you arrive.

Crafune's own account of itself is short. The company began with a team of two local craftsmen and started as a small leather crafting atelier in the corner of Haji Lane, Kampong Glam. Its timeline starts in 2018, and ELLE Singapore reported in August 2025 that the brand was launched that year by leather artisans Kenneth and Chiew Ting. The stated aim is to introduce the stress-relieving, therapeutic side of leathercraft to people who have never held an awl.

The business has since grown beyond that one room. Crafune now calls its New Bahru atelier, at 46 Kim Yam Road #02-11, Singapore 239351, the flagship store. That site is inside the former Nan Chiau High School building in River Valley, now a design and retail complex. A third workshop location runs at Funan. Haji Lane remains the original studio, and it is the one most visitors find first because it sits on one of the busiest shopping lanes in the city.

The Haji Lane booking page lists close to thirty workshop options, and prices follow the size of the finished piece. The 3 Small Accessories Workshop is S$89 and suits a first visit with a friend. The Basic Bi-fold Wallet Workshop is S$99. The Kumo Phone Bag Workshop costs S$115, and the Pippa Bag Workshop is listed at S$145. Watch straps are S$150. At the top end, the Short Zipper Wallet Workshop costs S$245, because a zip adds fiddly fitting and more stitching.

Two booking extras matter if you are planning around other people. An Extra Seat costs S$60, so a companion can join the same table. Crafune also sells Gift a Workshop vouchers starting at S$40, which explains why so many sessions are booked as birthday presents. The Bifold Wallet Workshop page warns that the session lasts about six to eight hours, so treat it as a full day and plan lunch on Arab Street around it.

Every class includes the kit. The listings say all tools and materials will be provided, which means you do not need to own a stitching pony, a pricking iron or waxed thread. Crafune describes its hides as ethically sourced real leather, taken from by-products of the food industry, and it openly rejects PU and PVC sold as vegan leather. The cardholder page has a section on vegetable-tanned leather, noting that it naturally develops a patina as it ages.

The finishing step is the part people photograph. Crafune offers hot-stamping of a name or initials, or debossing of small icons, for almost all of its workshops, so the piece leaves with your mark pressed into the grain. Ready-made items on the online shop can take an Add-on Name Engraving for S$10. The site does not name a tannery for each product, so ask the instructor which leather is on the table if the source matters to you.

There is a small finished range for people who would rather buy than build. The A5 Ring Binder in Cognac is S$120, and the Koko Pouch in Smoke Grey costs S$52. The all-products page shows only a handful of these ready-made items next to the long list of workshops, so do not expect racks of bags. If a finished wallet is what you want today, a dedicated retail shop elsewhere in Singapore will give you far more choice.

Our honest view is to skip the Bifold Wallet Workshop on a first visit unless you truly have a free day. Six to eight hours of saddle stitching is a big commitment, and the S$95 Cardholder Workshop teaches the same cutting, edge and stitching basics in three hours. Book the bigger wallet once you know you enjoy the rhythm of two needles. The Pippa Bag sits in between and makes a sensible second project.

The people at the tables are often couples, colleagues and gift recipients rather than solo shoppers. Crafune promotes group team-bonding sessions, and a Wesley Methodist Church couples evening was booked at the New Bahru atelier on Friday 31 July 2026, at S$85 per couple for a two-hour session with drinks and three small accessories each. Gift voucher holders make up another group, and TheSmartLocal's Haji Lane guide points first-timers to Crafune as the place to make a wallet from scratch.

The unspoken rule is to arrive on time. Classes run to a fixed timeslot, and a late start squeezes the stitching rather than extending the session. Wear something you do not mind marking with edge dye. One Klook reviewer warned that Google Maps can send people to the wrong Crafune location, so read the address on your booking confirmation and check whether it says Haji Lane or Kim Yam Road before you set off.

Crafune does not publish walk-in opening hours on its website, and every class page asks you to select the date and timeslot below. Haji Lane's shops and murals draw the biggest crowds at weekends, so a weekday afternoon class also means a quieter street outside when you step out with your finished piece.

If the Haji Lane calendar is full on your date, check the New Bahru flagship on Kim Yam Road, which runs its own schedule and sometimes hosts collaborations such as a Crafune x Birkenstock Leather Shoe Charms Workshop for S$38. That is the shortest and cheapest session on the site. If rain hits, Haji Lane's covered five-foot ways keep you dry on the walk from Beach Road, and Bugis MRT is close enough to reach without getting soaked.

Haji Lane itself has a story. The name comes from the Arab agents who arranged Hajj pilgrimages, and its shophouses served as lodges for pilgrims from the 1800s to the 1960s. Walk two blocks to Sultan Mosque at 3 Muscat Street, rebuilt in 1932 to a design by the Irish architect Denis Santry of Swan and Maclaren, and gazetted a national monument on 8 March 1975.

From the mosque, continue to the Malay Heritage Centre at 85 Sultan Gate. It occupies the Istana Kampong Glam, a palace commissioned from George Drumgoole Coleman in the 1840s, and its lawn is a calm place to sit after a few hours of stitching. Arab Street and Bussorah Street sit between the two, lined with textile shops and cafes, and make the natural loop back to the studio.

Address: 38A Haji Lane #02-01, Singapore 189231, on the upper floor of the shophouse. The flagship is at 46 Kim Yam Road #02-11, Singapore 239351. Booking: online by date and timeslot, with no published walk-in hours. Getting there: Bugis MRT, then about five minutes on foot from Exit B. Budget: S$89 to S$245 per class, plus S$60 for an extra seat.

Before you go, decide on initials for the hot stamp so you are not choosing letters at the table. Short nails make the stitching easier. If you bring a child or a first-timer, start with the 3 Small Accessories Workshop. The Karpo APP can help you pair a morning class with lunch nearby, or find a quieter cafe in Kampong Glam for the hour after you finish.