Sydney has scored a brand new (and brightly, boldly orange) hub for human connection and busy hands. If you like the idea of getting stuck into delightfully haywire arts and crafts classes, thought-fuelling panels, and making new friends who appreciate statement earrings – then Chaotic Social is definitely something that you should check out.
“Chaotic Social is for human connection through wholesome mayhem,” explains founder and lead agent of chaos, Chrissy Flanagan.
“What that means practically is classes in weird art and mad skills, panels on naked ambition, and purely fun shit… Just pursuing the shit we want in our lives, and not being squeamish about it or embarrassed to say, ‘Hey, I'd like to spend some time with some new people’. And that's fucking hard.”
Think everything from creepy doll making to a crash course in stand-up comedy with Archibald Prize sitter Cal Wilson, hand-making vulva polymer earrings, bad badass self portraits, “baby queer orientation”, and discussion of adult gap years, through to “speed mating” and BYO blue light discos where you can pop your (non-gender-specific) pussy in peace in a “no creeps” environment – it’s an endless and ever evolving stream of ways to enrich your life while building community.
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Busy people and commitment-phobes need not be deterred – all sessions are one-off “smash and grab” occasions, so there’s no pressure to do something like front up the money for an eight-week course and attend every Tuesday.
Chrissy explains: “It's immersive without pressure, but then you have some fun piece of shit you can also take home and go “Oh my god, I made that!” Like talking-point earrings, or something that you’re gonna frame and put on your desk.”
You might recognise Flanagan from her viral TikTok videos – where she has gained a legion of fans for her raw honesty, parade of home sewn dresses, street furniture finds and her geriatric dog, Poppy. Or, you might recognise her as Sydney’s Sausage Queen (the edible kind, get your mind out of the gutter!). Chrissy’s first baby, Dulwich Hill restaurant, brewery and artisan “snaggery” the Sausage Factory served its last snags in December 2022. Chrissy and her former business partner made the call to pursue new ventures after they called time as life partners after a decade-long relationship.
The first spark of her new business arose from a conversation at one of Chrissy’s sausage making classes (which continue to run at Chaotic Social), where all the participants were invited to arrive solo and partake in a progressive speed friending style session. “It was just the most exciting night and the atmosphere was incredible,” she says. “People want to meet people, people just want to have a good chat with a stranger. It's delightful.”
“At the end of this class, this woman said to me, ‘I'm 35, I'm single, I live alone. I work from home most days. At five o'clock, I close my laptop, and most nights I'm just waiting to go to sleep.’ And now that I am single as well I totally get that, because you don't necessarily want to have dinner with friends seven nights a week. It gets really fucking boring.”
The result? A rebranding from ‘Sausage Queen’ to the ‘Chaotic Socialite’ – and a cheerful hub in Petersham (just a hop, skip and a jump from the Public House Petersham) for “the girls, the gays, the theys, and nice men who we have decided are nice men”.
With a revolving line-up of creative and clever instructors leading beginner-friendly workshops and talks based on their special skills and areas of expertise, you’d be hard pressed not to find an event that sparks your curiosity.
Chaotic Social is open for bookings and wholesome revelry as of May 3, 2023. Find out more and book a sesh at chaoticsocial.com.
You can follow Chaotic Social on Instagram at @chaoticsocial and follow Chrissy on Instagram and TikTok under @chaoticsocialite.