Handshouse Studio

05/20/2026

The Handshouse Toys for Animals project is in the News! Project Director, Cailigh, MacDonald has completed another great semester of collaborating with her students at Mass Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the animal team at Franklin Park Zoo. This is just one of 3 different Toys for Animals workshops being offered this semester alone! See Cailigh's class on SEE THE GOOD today!

https://whdh.com/news/see-the-good-massachusetts-college-of-arts-and-sciences-students-design-toys-for-zoo-animals/

And follow this and other projects at handshouse.org

FRANKLIN, MASS. (WHDH) - Local students are designing toys for zoo animal sanctuaries with the Toys for Animals Project. The Norwell nonprofit Hands House Studio

12/31/2025

Thank you all for helping making 2025 another uplifting year of Making/History together! - https://mailchi.mp/handshouse/thankyou2025_ndp

09/10/2025

Join us hands-on at the Fenimore Farm Harvest Festival this weekend! - https://mailchi.mp/handshouse/youre-invited-join-us-in-atlanta-14198545

06/25/2025

Notre-Dame Project on exhibition in Cooperstown, NY! Come check it out!

A replica truss from the Notre Dame cathedral made its debut at the Fenimore Art Museum on Tuesday.

05/24/2025

Handshouse had the privilege of presenting our 1:10 scale white oak model of Notre-Dame de Paris’ timber framed roof structure at the 60th Medieval Congress at Western Michigan University on May 9. Constructing and assembling this dizzying set of trusses requires deep collaboration—something Handshouse has centered since our founding in 2002. Now, we need to put the adage “many hands make light work” to the test. Can we lift Handshouse toward the future together? Lend your hand by donating to the Group Lift Campaign today at: handshouse.org/grouplift

05/13/2025

A big thank you to the community at the Western Michigan University International Congress on Medieval Studjes for joining us for this fantastic model workshop! And an even bigger thank you to Penn State Professor Lindsay Cook, Ph.D., who brought us to the conference! Join the Handshouse mailing list to get the full story and learn about future events: handshouse.org/subscribe

04/24/2025

Preorder Today: Cary Wolinsky, Visual Memories: A Photobook. Support this time-sensitive campaign to celebrate Cary's life and work! Available to preorder on Kickstarter—support BEFORE MAY 13TH!- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wolinskyphotobook/cary-wolinsky-visual-memories-a-photobook

03/27/2025

Tune into Rick Brown's presentation via livestream! TOMORROW!
Friday, March 28 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Watch as Rick, 2025 Distinguished Alumni shares with a group of North Cross School students how to raise an Egyptian obelisk as the ancient Egyptians did – with little more than sand, rope, wood, muscle, and brainpower.
https://www.youtube.com/live/7U-6kpTsA1Q

03/20/2025

Participants in a Handshouse Studio: Gwozdźiec Synagogue Reconstruction workshop paint components of the historic synagogue (above). The full-scale, full-color reconstruction is now on exhibition at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Handshouse needs a group lift! We know that many hands make light work. Can we count on you to help raise Handshouse toward the future? Donate at handshouse.org/grouplift

03/07/2025

Handshouse needs a group lift! DONATE TODAY! Top row: A beloved Asian elephant at Buttonwood Park Zoo playing with “the Archimedes Screw,” a toy made by MassArt students.

Second row left: Ring-tailed lemur playing with a toy made by Boston Prep students.

Second row right: Linne’s two-toed sloth playing with a toy made by MassArt students.

Third row: An example of a student toy, “the Turning Tower Toy Feeder,” made by students from Apponequet Regional High School for a variety of small primate species.