About
Robert Mahar is an artist and educator who teaches in-person and virtual workshops featuring imaginative handcraft projects based in historical craft traditions. His current teaching schedule can be found here. You’ll also find his instruction presented through high-quality video tutorials on Craftsy/Bluprint, YouTube, and CreativeLive. For many years he hosted his own YouTube channel Crafted and was one of the reoccurring marquee talent on the YouTube channel Kin Community.
A Midwesterner at heart, Robert has called California home for more than 30 years. With an education in studio arts and art history, he has worked in a variety of creative fields including 13 years as an appraiser of modern and contemporary art. When he’s not working in his Sonoma studio, Robert obsesses over vintage craft books and schemes ways to make it big as a doughnut connoisseur.
For business inquiries, collaboration, brand partnerships or to inquire about having Robert teach at your venue or event, please reach out via the contact page.
View complete curriculum vitae on LinkedIn.
The photograph of Robert shown here was captured by the talented Lydia Brewer.
Robert Mahar on NBC's Making It
Robert is a proud season one alumnus of NBC’s crafting competition show Making It! Co-hosted by the brilliant Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, this six episode series featured eight makers from across the U.S. who tackled themed challenges to demonstrate their specialized talents while sharing skilled insights and touching personal stories. Robert went on to work as an associate producer for the series third season.
Learn about the imaginative projects Robert created for this series in his Making It Season One Recap.
“…the low-key and utterly charming Making It has been both a critical and commercial summer success. The show has a perfect 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes (almost unheard of in the reality-TV world) and it’s also the most-watched new series of the (2018) summer…” – Vulture.com
The Map Embroidery Sampler on Craftsy/Bluprint
Robert is delighted to bring his popular Map Embroidery Sampler workshop to online audiences in partnership the state-of-the-art digital lifestyle learning platform Craftsy (formerly Bluprint)!
Let Robert be your guide as you learn how to embroider your travels, your favorite places, your family’s journey, or any other narrative you like with this self-designed map embroidery sampler. This six-part class is thoughtfully designed with 16 unique stitches to help you tell your story along with expert tips, techniques and clever ideas for finishing and displaying your map like a pro.
If you’d like to use the same printed map fabric Robert utilizes in this class you can purchase it in his online shop.
Robert Mahar for Knock Knock
Robert happily partnered with Southern California based Knock Knock to create a clever, and now archived, craft driven gift collection. Rooted in nostalgia, but with a modern sensibility, Knock Knock sees these products as an excellent fit with their mission to to bring humor, creativity, and smarts to everyday life.
Paint by Number Postcards Kits – the perfect marriage of retro craft and happy mail!
Personal Award Ribbons – colorful encouragement in the form of vintage-inspired, wearable paper badges!
Stamp & Tag Kits – presenting makers a clever way to tag and gift their handmade and home baked creations!
Stamp & Card Kits – creating mailable masterpieces with stamps and stickers!
CreativeLive Online Classes
Join Robert for a full array of fun and engaging online craft classes through CreativeLive.com, the world’s largest live streaming education website. These longer format workshops allow you to tackle in-depth projects on your own schedule with anytime access and the ability to pause any lesson and re-watch as often as you’d like!
Select from:
Paper Crafting Skills and Technique
Introduction to Paper Marbling
How to Make Paper Flowers
Introduction to Paper Mache
Stamping Techniques and Design
Simple Himmelli Mobiles
How to Make Paper
Stylish Pajaki Chandeliers
Fun and Festive Surprise Balls
Crafted with Robert Mahar on YouTube
Crafted served for many years as Robert’s YouTube home base, featuring video tutorials for imaginative crafts and clever do-it-yourself projects. The crafty content he develops and presents on camera is often rooted in nostalgia, and his talent for reinventing old-school crafts with a decidedly modern twist has gained him a loyal following. Robert firmly believes that making something useful (not to mention lovely) by hand is empowering, inspiring and fosters creativity.
The Crafted channel is part of Kin Community, the #1 women’s community on YouTube—delivering high-quality, female-focused video content across lifestyle verticals.
SUBSCRIBE to Robert’s YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/CraftedWithRobertMahar
Mahar Drygoods
Robert first became known in the world of craft and design as the proprietor of Mahar Drygoods (2005 – 2010), an online emporium of vintage and artisan crafted curiosities for children. He curated this online collaboration of more than 50 artists, designers and craftspeople to create the imaginative and unexpected. Never mass-produced, all Mahar Drygoods items were handmade in the homes and studios of their creators with an emphasis on recycled and sustainable materials whenever possible.
Mahar Drygoods was repeatedly featured in such media outlets as: Parents Magazine, Real Simple Magazine, The Martha Stewart Show, The Los Angeles Times, design*sponge blog, Cookie Magazine, Parenting Magazine, Lucky Magazine, Decor8 blog, and the Apartment Therapy blog.
View a selection of the Mahar Drygoods archive on Pinterest.