‘Secret Santa built for artists’: Local cafe initiative hopes to bring community together

Anvil Coffee House in Edmonton on May 13, 2025. (Nav Sangha/CTV News Edmonton)

An Edmonton organizer of a free art exchange is hoping to connect local crafters and bring the artist community together.

Anvil Coffee House owner Sarah Klaszus has been organizing the “maker’s swap” since last year.

“It’s kind of like a secret Santa built for artists,” she told CTV News Edmonton at her coffee shop on Tuesday.

Klaszus says people sign up online and then get assigned to each other. They then have a month to create something as a gift for the other person.

“At the end of the deadline, everything gets brought into the shop here and then we contact the person to pick up their little maker,” she said.

Klaszus said items exchanged in the first maker’s swap last December included all kinds of things from a pottery mug to a knitted neck-warmer.

“It was really neat to see the reactions of people who did research,” she said. “They searched their person online for social media to find out what they were into.”

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Klaszus says the first swap had 19 participants and they have more than 30 people signed up for the second one, which is open to join until Thursday.

The swap will happen on June 15 and is open to all ages and skill levels.

“Kiddos like to make stuff. They’re more than welcome to join in,” Klaszus said about the anonymous art-exchange.

“You get a certain joy from making something for somebody that you don’t know.”

For more information or to sign up for the next maker’s swap, visit the Anvil Coffee House’s website.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nav Sangha