Workshops provide a flexible approach to study complex issues through socio-material practices and this paper discusses the methodological considerations involved in doing research through workshops. The paper builds on two research projects where workshops were used to study the practices of professionals’ use of digital tools at a consultancy firm and the everyday life of residents in a newly built city district. While the workshops targeted different groups and had different forms, they both made use of material expressions to visualise everyday practices. We reflect on how we can make use of workshops to study professional and everyday practices and how knowledge is enacted in the different workshops. Building on a socio-material relations approach we discuss our choices in designing workshops, the analytical processes involved and the consequences these choices have on what knowledge we create in interaction with the participants.