A Christmas team building idea in London that is not another long lunch: a private rug tufting session in Hackney Wick, or on-site for larger groups.
November 4, 2026
Every December someone in the office gets handed the Christmas social and a spreadsheet of opinions. Half the team wants a long lunch, the other half wants anything but.
Here is a different option: everyone in a room for an afternoon, each making their own rug.
Tufting is a way of making rugs with a handheld gun that punches yarn through a stretched canvas, row by row. You draw a design on the canvas, fill it in with colour, and at the end you have a soft, textured rug that you made yourself.
As a team activity it works because nobody needs to be good at it before they arrive. The gun takes a few minutes to get used to, and after that it is mostly about choosing colours and getting on with it.
Most Christmas team building in London falls into two camps. Something competitive, where the same three people win, or something where you mostly sit and drink.
Tufting sits somewhere else. It is hands-on, so people talk while they work rather than being talked at. Nobody is competing, so the quieter half of the team gets as much out of it as the loud half. And everyone ends up with a real object, not just a photo and a vague memory of the bar.
It also gets people looking at each other's work. A room of finished rugs at the end of a session says more about a team than any icebreaker. We saw this when a whole design studio came tufting, and it holds for teams who would never call themselves creative.
The short version:
All materials are included. We use AK-2 and AK-V tufting guns, and you can work in cut pile, loop pile or a mix of both.
There are two ways to do it.
At our studio in Hackney Wick. We run private team sessions in the studio, so it is just your group and our team for the session. We are at D009 Tradestars, 415 Wick Lane, Hackney Wick, E3 2JG, and the location page has directions.
On-site for larger groups. If your team is bigger than the studio comfortably holds, we can bring the workshop to you.
Team pricing depends on group size, format and date, so get in touch for a quote rather than working from our public prices.
Every session uses Cheekyarn, our own GRS certified recycled yarn, in 115 colours. That is a lot of choice, so it helps to have a rough palette in mind before you arrive.
If you want a festive rug, there is plenty to work with: greens, reds and golds for the obvious route, or something less traditional if your team prefers.
Bold, simple shapes work best on a first rug. A few that suit a Christmas session:
Avoid photos of faces, small text and gradients. Yarn works in blocks of colour, not fine detail.
If you are aiming for a date before Christmas, get in touch as early as you can, even if the final headcount is not settled yet.
Send us your rough team size, a few possible dates, and whether you would rather come to the studio or have us come to you. We will come back with options and a quote.
Get a quote for a team building tufting session
Not ready to book the whole team? A regular workshop is a good way for one or two people to try it first, and gift cards have no expiry if you want to give it as a thank you instead.
Do you run Christmas team building in London? Yes. We run private team tufting sessions at our studio in Hackney Wick, East London, and can come to you on-site for larger groups. Get in touch for a quote.
Does anyone need experience? No. Tufting is beginner-friendly and our team guides everyone through the whole session, from using the gun to choosing colours.
Does everyone make their own rug? Yes. It is one rug per person, and everyone designs and tufts their own.
How much does a team session cost? It depends on group size, format and date, so we quote each one individually. Send us the details and we will come back with a price.
