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Life + Culture

A Love Letter To Analogue Hobbies

Offline, hands-on, and refreshingly low-pressure — these analogue hobbies are your cue to step away from the scroll and do something just for the joy of it.

| Taronish Batty
Feature - Publive (25)

We’ve all started consciously going analogue since last year, and 2026 is feeling no different. With an overload of content online, the urge to actually go outside and touch grass… is very real. Everything seems to be fighting for your attention — and somehow even the things we enjoy begin to feel performative. What cuts through, oddly enough, are the things that don’t translate well online. Activities that keep you occupied and your phone somewhere out of reach.

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Analogue hobbies aren’t about self-improvement or productivity. They’re about occupying yourself in a way that feels grounding — sometimes clumsy, sometimes oddly absorbing. You start without knowing where it’ll go, you make mistakes, you get better without noticing. And at the end of it, you’ve created something real.

Flower Arranging

Flower arranging starts off slightly awkward — stems too long, colours that don’t quite match, but that’s part of the charm. You keep moving things around until it suddenly works. It’s less about floristry and more about instinct, about trusting your eye and letting the arrangement look like it came together naturally, even if it didn’t.

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Pottery Painting

The brush slips, the line wobbles, the glaze dries darker than expected. And yet, the mug becomes your favourite one — the one you reach for every morning, flaws and all. It feels personal in a way store-bought never does.

Nail Art

Doing your own nail art is oddly intimate. You’re hunched over your hands, steadying your breath, focusing on tiny details. It’s quiet, a little time-consuming, and deeply satisfying when it’s done. No two sets look the same — and that’s the point.

Bookmark Making

Bookmark making is for people who love small, sentimental things. You save scraps without knowing why — pressed flowers, old notes, ticket stubs and one afternoon they come together into something useful. Each bookmark feels like a tiny memory you slip between pages.

Whimsical Baking

This is messy by design. Flour on the counter, icing that refuses to behave, colours that turn out brighter than planned. The end result might not be neat, but it’s joyful — and that’s what makes people reach for seconds.

Key-ring Making

Key-ring making is deceptively addictive. You start with one, just to try it, and before you know it you’re making extras “just in case.” It’s satisfying in a no-pressure way — quick and easy.

Clay Trinkets

Working with polymer clay feels a little like playing again. You roll, shape, redo. Nothing is permanent until you decide it is. The pieces often turn out slightly odd — and that’s exactly what makes them charming.

Macramé

Macramé slows everything down. The repetition forces your hands to move at a steady pace, and your mind follows. You stop checking the time. Knot by knot, something starts to take shape — and it all comes together.

Watercolour Painting

The paint moves where it wants to, the paper buckles slightly, colours bleed together. You learn to work with it rather than against it and at the end of it, you'll have a cute artsy piece.

Junk Journalling

Junk journalling is organised chaos. Some pages are layered and thoughtful, others rushed and messy. It doesn’t matter. The journal becomes a place where nothing has to make sense to anyone else.

Crocheting

Crocheting begins awkwardly. Your hands fumble, the stitches look uneven, progress feels slow. Then one day, it clicks. You realise you’ve made something from nothing — and that feeling sticks.

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