Tiara Daring, Owner and Founder of CraftedByT Studio

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Tiara Daring, Owner and Founder of CraftedByT Studio – 1st Mondays Mini Podcast

Posted: June 15, 2026

By Ella Napata

The 1st Mondays Mini Podcast is a platform for founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem builders during the quarterly Startup San Diego 1st Mondays events to share what they’re building, ideating, and find out how we can support each other. A quick pulse on the ecosystem to bring us closer together.

In this episode of the 1st Mondays Mini Podcast, Tiara Daring, Owner and Founder of CraftedByT Studio, a San Diego-based crochet design business offering custom one-of-a-kind pieces available for rent or purchase.

Here’s a quick summary of what the podcast is about:

Mindfulness through craft: Tiara also runs “Mindfulness with Tea” workshops aimed at working professionals and creatives, using crochet as a tool to slow down, reduce stress, and rediscover the adult need for play.
Community-first networking: Tiara attended her first-ever Startup San Diego 1st Mondays event specifically to connect with fellow entrepreneurs, share experiences, and find ways to grow alongside others navigating the same solo-founder journey.
Real talk on solopreneur struggles: She openly shares her need for better business systems, from financials to administrative workflows, so she can confidently seize opportunities without feeling unprepared or overwhelmed.
Finding and following CraftedByT: The episode wraps with Tiara sharing how people can connect with her through her website craftedbytstudio.com and on Instagram at @craft3dbyt and @craftedbyt.studio.

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Where craft meets community

At Startup San Diego’s 1st Mondays event, not every founder arrives with a pitch deck. Tiara Daring walked in wearing her own work, a custom crochet piece she designed herself, perfectly suited to a San Diego evening that couldn’t quite decide between warm and cool. It was a small, telling detail: for Tiara, the product and the person are inseparable.

CraftedByT Studio sits at the intersection of wearable art and intentional living. Tiara creates one-of-a-kind crochet pieces available for rent or purchase, and runs workshops she calls “Mindfulness with Tea,” guided sessions where participants slow down, pick up a hook, and rediscover something adults often leave behind: the ability to play.

“We tend to forget that adults need to play.” Tiara Daring, CraftedByT Studio.

Slowing down as a business model

Tiara is doing something quietly countercultural. Her workshops are designed for working professionals and creatives who need permission to decelerate. The act of crochet, repetitive and tactile, becomes a vehicle for mindfulness. Tea is the ritual. The finished piece is almost secondary.

It’s a business model built on the idea that the experience is the product, and that people will pay for the feeling of calm just as readily as they’ll pay for a garment.

Join us for 1st Mondays & Be Part of the Mini Podcast

Want to be on the 1st Mondays Mini Podcast? Join us on August 3rd at the UCSD Design and Innovation Building for 1st Mondays! Meet founders like Tiara, and get connected with the San Diego startup ecosystem