The Badge Cafe team: Ben Walters, Devin Thomson, Alexander Harvey, Ella Perhaps and (in circle upper right) Josa Petrie
“A paradise garage of badgemaking”
– Badge Cafe regular
What is Badge Cafe?
Badge Cafe helps people relax, create and connect by coming together to make unique badges out of reused books and magazines.
To the people we make badges with, we aim to be welcoming, friendly and supportive, helping you do your own thing in your own way at your own pace.
To the people we work with, we are a mobile pop-up service provider, offering a very engaging, flexible, scalable format based on original peer-reviewed research into the benefits of participatory creativity.
Badge Cafe CIC is a registered non-profit community interest company.
“Uncommonly welcoming and caring”
– Badge Cafe regular
What’s a hangout?
A hangout is a guided creative activity, led by one of our trained hosts.
People look through specially sourced books and magazines provided by us. Images and words they like can be cut out and made into badges, either as found or as part of a collage.
We call it a hangout rather than a workshop because it isn’t work and nothing’s for sale.
There’s no fixed schedule or outcome: people can drop in and out, spend a few minutes or several hours, and get whatever support is needed to help them follow their own goals on their own terms at their own pace.
“So creative yet so accessible”
– Badge Cafe regular
Our story
Badge Cafe began in 2022 when queer nightlife legends Duckie asked their pal Ben Walters if he fancied helping people make badges in the club.
He did. It was an instant hit and became a fixture. Ben realised that this was a chance to put into practice his research ideas about “hope machines” – participatory creative projects that make a difference in people’s lives.
Soon Badge Cafe branched out to become its own thing, offering standalone hangouts and delivering workshops for loads of other events and organisations.
When demand kept growing, Ben trained some talented regulars to host events too. Our current team includes the awesome Alexander, Devin, Ella and Josa.
Our values
Badge Cafe is rooted in care, fun, creativity, collaboration and hope.
We see badgemaking as a refuge, a playground, a laboratory and a launchpad – a place where self-care, connection across difference, analogue crafting, artistic exploration and progressive civics meet.
It’s based in re-use, finding beauty and value in the discarded, donated and found.
Our research
Badge Cafe came out of creator Dr Ben Walters’s academic research into “hope machines”: grassroots projects that help create better worlds one step at a time.
This research shows how making things together in a low-stakes, collaborative environment can build wellbeing and hope for individuals and communities.
Ben’s research was inspired by pioneering queer performance collective Duckie and their work with people living with homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges, older people without many friends or family and young LGBTQ+ artists.
These findings have been shared through a “Dr Duckie” talk and peer-reviewed publications for Routledge, Bloomsbury and UCL Press; conferences including Utopian Studies Society (Europe), HIV Prevention England and Night Spaces: Migration, Culture and Integration in Europe; and AHRC-funded projects Performance Matters and Staging Decadence.
Ben has delivered lectures and workshops for Central Saint Martins, Queen Mary University of London, Goldsmiths, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of Brighton, Live Art Development Agency and others.
Our impact
In 2026, more than 100 Badge Cafe participants took part in a survey to help us learn more about our impact.
More than 90% were neurodivergent, living with mental health challenges, disabled, LGBTQ+ and/or global majority.
More than 90% said Badge Cafe supports their health and wellbeing, helps them deal with challenging feelings or experiences, and helps them feel more creative and more connected to others.
Contributors said it was “almost meditative”, “surprisingly empowering” and “the one public place that I can fully unmask”.
100% would recommend Badge Cafe to other people.
Who we work with
Our hangouts help people live well, have fun, work and learn thanks to partners of all kinds.
These include community groups, councils, NHS trusts, LGBTQ+ groups, arts, fashion and cultural organisations, festivals, nightlife, universities, archives and libraries.
We also work with corporate partners and private events including parties, weddings and funerals.
We are based in London and work around the UK. We’ve worked in Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Amsterdam, New York and Chicago too.
About
The Badge Cafe team: Ben Walters, Devin Thomson, Alexander Harvey, Ella Perhaps and (in circular image) Josa Petrie
“A paradise garage of badgemaking”
– Badge Cafe regular
What is Badge Cafe?
Badge Cafe helps people relax, create and connect by coming together to make unique badges out of reused books and magazines.
To the people we make badges with, we aim to be welcoming, friendly and supportive, helping you do your own thing in your own way at your own pace.
To the people we work with, we are a mobile pop-up service provider, offering a very engaging, flexible, scalable format based on original peer-reviewed research into the benefits of participatory creativity.
Badge Cafe CIC is a registered non-profit community interest company.
“Uncommonly welcoming and caring”
– Badge Cafe regular
What’s a hangout?
A hangout is a guided creative activity, led by one of our trained hosts.
People look through specially sourced books and magazines provided by us. Images and words they like can be cut out and made into badges, either as found or as part of a collage.
We call it a hangout rather than a workshop because it isn’t work and nothing’s for sale.
There’s no fixed schedule or outcome: people can drop in and out, spend a few minutes or several hours, and get whatever support is needed to help them follow their own goals on their own terms at their own pace.
“So creative yet so accessible”
– Badge Cafe regular
Our story
Badge Cafe began in 2022 when queer nightlife legends Duckie asked their pal Ben Walters if he fancied helping people make badges in the club.
He did. It was an instant hit and became a fixture. Ben realised that this was a chance to put into practice his research ideas about “hope machines” – participatory creative projects that make a difference in people’s lives.
Soon Badge Cafe branched out to become its own thing, offering standalone hangouts and delivering workshops for loads of other events and organisations.
When demand kept growing, Ben trained some talented regulars to host events too. Our current team includes the awesome Alexander, Devin, Ella and Josa.
Our values
Badge Cafe is rooted in care, fun, creativity, collaboration and hope.
We see badgemaking as a refuge, a playground, a laboratory and a launchpad – a place where self-care, connection across difference, analogue crafting, artistic exploration and progressive civics meet.
It’s based in re-use, finding beauty and value in the discarded, donated and found.
Our research
Badge Cafe came out of creator Dr Ben Walters’s academic research into “hope machines”: grassroots projects that help create better worlds one step at a time.
This research shows how making things together in a low-stakes, collaborative environment can build wellbeing and hope for individuals and communities.
Ben’s research was inspired by pioneering queer performance collective Duckie and their work with people living with homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges, older people without many friends or family and young LGBTQ+ artists.
These findings have been shared through a “Dr Duckie” talk and peer-reviewed publications for Routledge, Bloomsbury and UCL Press; conferences including Utopian Studies Society (Europe), HIV Prevention England and Night Spaces: Migration, Culture and Integration in Europe; and AHRC-funded projects Performance Matters and Staging Decadence.
Ben has delivered lectures and workshops for Central Saint Martins, Queen Mary University of London, Goldsmiths, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of Brighton, Live Art Development Agency and others.
Our impact
In 2026, more than 100 Badge Cafe participants took part in a survey to help us learn more about our impact.
More than 90% were neurodivergent, living with mental health challenges, disabled, LGBTQ+ and/or global majority.
More than 90% said Badge Cafe supports their health and wellbeing, helps them deal with challenging feelings or experiences, and helps them feel more creative and more connected to others.
Contributors said it was “almost meditative”, “surprisingly empowering” and “the one public place that I can fully unmask”.
100% would recommend Badge Cafe to other people.
Who we work with
Our hangouts help people live well, have fun, work and learn thanks to partners of all kinds.
These include community groups, councils, NHS trusts, LGBTQ+ groups, arts, fashion and cultural organisations, festivals, nightlife, universities, archives and libraries.
We also work with corporate partners and private events including parties, weddings and funerals.
We are based in London and work around the UK. We’ve worked in Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Amsterdam, New York and Chicago too.
