Steel the fun
Think regular DIY isn't cool — or hard-core — enough? Young Chinese people are finding their next craft obsession in an unlikely place: the hardware store.
Metal elbows, faucet fittings, valves, pipes and all kinds of steel odds and ends can be picked up for just a few yuan. Add a little imagination, and plumbing supplies suddenly become Thor's hammer, a steam-punk wine dispenser or something even harder to explain.
Snap a photo, post it online, and these creations can quickly go viral on social media under the tag "hardware store Lego".
It might sound like a fleeting fad. But the trend says something interesting about how young people are redefining fun.
Not long ago, getting into crafts often meant signing up for pottery, tufting or another carefully curated studio experience. Now, young people are looking for something that costs less, feels more personal, and leaves much more room for creativity — walking into a hardware shop, buying a handful of ordinary parts and figuring out what they could become.
Behind those neighborhood shops sits China's enormous manufacturing ecosystem, producing an extraordinary variety of metal fittings, tools and components at low prices. Parts designed for plumbing, construction and repair are abundant and easy to find.
With such a ready supply of cheap parts to play with, who says Lego has to be plastic?
