Discover the slow, tactile art of hand-building ceramics and express yourself through the act of creating unique, timeless pieces for your home. So if the original studio pottery movement was a reaction against industrialisation and urbanisation, what is driving the contemporary revival – and why is it happening in cities? The obvious answer to the former is that artists are reacting to the digital revolution in the same way that they reacted to the Industrial Revolution and Adamson’s work bears this out: ‘Our own era is just as potentially traumatic and disruptive as the time of the industrial revolution.’ Indeed, he describes craft as ‘an understandable response to the crises of modernity.’

Early man discovered the power of fire to harden earth into a durable material as long as 25,000 years ago – probably while placing clay figures into fires as part of ritual practices or lining hearths with clay to keep them watertight – but it wasn’t until our nomadic ancestors started to settle into towns and villages 13,000 years later that ceramics started to be used as functional vessels.

Week Classes - Please ensure when signing up for a course that you will be able to attend all lessons scheduled for that course. Ceramics are typically completed on a weekly basis (just like our courses are laid out)! This is very important to maintain due to the drying time required for your pieces each week. Missing a class may mean your pieces become too dry to work with, and need to be disposed of. These movements were a rejection, not only of industrialisation, but also of the cities where industrialisation took place. Writing in 20th Century Ceramics, Edmund de Waal asserts,

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See more competitions with great prizes currently on Dezeen › Urban Potters: Makers in the City documents the revival of ceramics in six major cities The book also maps out the shift from the standardisation and mass-manufacturing of pottery, to the revived interest in handmade ceramics – which has seen Turner prize-winning Assemble "squish" coloured clays to create one-of-a-kind products, and Alissa Volchkova create porcelain bowls that look like paint blobs. The Ceramics Book - an A-Z guide to 300 ceramic artists, published by Ceramic Review Publishing Ltd News from Dezeen Events Guide, a listings guide covering the leading design-related events taking place around the world. Plus occasional updates. Dezeen Awards China Katie Treggiden is a design writer, editor, curator, lecturer and consultant. Treggiden writes for the Guardian Magazine, the Telegraph Magazine, Elle Decoration and Icon, among others. She is the author of The Makers of East London and of The Residents: Inside the Iconic Barbican Estate.

Weekly updates on the latest design and architecture vacancies advertised on Dezeen Jobs. Plus occasional news. Dezeen AwardsUrban Potters: Makers in the City will appeal to a broad audience – not only those who practice pottery themselves, but anyone who is interested in the handmade. The book also includes a practical source list of places to buy handmade ceramics in the six cities featured. News about our Dezeen Awards programme, including entry deadlines and announcements. Plus occasional updates. Dezeen Events Guide But not all crafts were created equal and, while all those things may all be true, the biggest pressure on creative people working in cities is space, and pottery is a particularly space-hungry pursuit. Be that as it may, the proximity to clients, culture and collaboration makes it worth the expense for many. It takes a special type of person with a great deal of humility and patience to deal with the unique challenges of working with clay. At every stage, there are a multitude of things that can go wrong – often remaining undetected until a pot explodes in the kiln, taking everything else with it. As Benedict Fludd says, ‘failure with clay is more complete and more spectacular than with other forms of art.’ Perhaps it just takes a very special type of person to work with clay in the city – urban potters might just have to add grit and determination to their humility and patience. Any cancellation made less than 48hrs will result in a cancellation fee. The amount of the fee will be equal to 50% of the amount paid for any Friday Night Throw Down and Private Lessons. Please note that we will do our best to work with you to reschedule.