Ceramics Studio Co-op

Ceramics studio and workshop in London, UK

Category: Studio news

  • Closed: 14 -21 July

    Dear customers and valued studio patrons

    The studio will be closed for a holiday on 14-21 July. We look forward to seeing you after the break.

    Ceramics Studio Co-op Team
  • We Are Featured In The Evening Standard!

    We Are Featured In The Evening Standard!

    Check out latest Evening Standard article on cooperatives in Lewisham! What a joy to read about local cooperative projects in mainstream press. Great thanks to the editing team for reaching out to us, what a beautiful 10th anniversary moment for us.

    If you would like to learn more about the studio, our about page has a lot of information about your values and principles.

  • Ceramics Coop is 10!

    Ceramics Coop is 10!

    Today we are celebrating 10 years since the legal entity holding Ceramics Studio Co-op had been registered. Starting with a dream of an impossible, and working through challenges and demands for personal growth, constant improvement, day-by-day learning, it’s been a humbling journey. We’ve met incredible people on the way, and have seen hard times and immence beauty created by human hands just like our own.

    The workshop asked us for personal sacrifices, hard work, and readiness to be changed. We did not always accept it, but stayed with what had to be done for it’s existence. Sometimes this space carried us through great personal challenges, and we are grateful for it.

    The community that gathers around and within the studio had been a beautiful source of joy, co-learning and co-creating together. Not just clay and ceramic pieces we get to make next to one another, but we are co-creating ourselves though creative work we undertake together, through being with each other in its pain and glory. Doing this in the community of like-minded and deeply passionate people is rewarding and life-transforming experience, and we are thankful for it.

    We do wonder often what it means to create space for clay and its people, and take responsibility for who gets to participate and practice within the frame that the workshop can offer. Clay has its healing and connecting power. As a collective media where firings and space are shared, and conversations continue we create meaning around our work and how we share it. Being both at the edge of it and in the eye of the storm is the most rewarding journey.

    Seeing our studio become a generative part of the artistic community of London that champions ceramics arts has been humbling and beautiful. We are grateful for each and every person who came in, contributed, attended classes and free events, fired their sculpture and pottery, and especially for our studio members who are at the heart of this community. It is such a joy to work with you and for you, it is such a joy to follow your ceramics journeys and see you strive for excellence, develop, change, become your best selves, and nourish your talents as artists and makers of things.

    We are also grateful for funding that Arts Council England and Lewisham Council awarded us, and all kind and humble help from Cooperatives UK, their staff and business advisors, all tasty meals and coffees served to us by local businesses and cafes. We would not be here without you, and we are lucky to be here with you.

  • Our new kiln named after Lucie Rie

    We are delighted to introduce our newest addition to the studio equipment, a state-of-the-art 330 litre front loader kiln. We named our new biggest kiln so far after Dame Lucie Rie, prominent Austrian-born British studio potter, recently celebrated by a in-depth show in Kettles Yard.

    With the promise of advanced technology and precise temperature control it gives us many hopes for the kinds of creations may now be envisoned and fired with us. This kiln is our first front loader, and it will take some time for Tatiana to learn ins and outs of how to make the most of it, but it is very exciting step forward, especially for sculptors we work with.

    If you are looking for a community kiln hire, do get in touch with us via firing service page or contact form. It is our passion to make kilns available to the community of makers and artists in London. After 10 years of continuous work with so many sculptors and artists we have enough experience to be able to help almost anyone.

  • We’ve moved to Deptford 👋

    We are excited to share that our pottery studio just relocated to Deptford. Take a note of our new address:

    73-79 Childers Street
    London
    SE8 5JR

    And here is a photo of Anna, moving a kiln on a palett lift, and our beautiful old classroom behind.

    Bye-bye Juno Way 👋

  • Powered by 100% renewable electricity

    Ceramics Studio Coop switched to 100% renewable electricity this week. All electricity we use comes from 100% renewable sources like sun, wind and water. Big thanks to our energy supplier Octopus Energy.

    We 100% green energy to fire your pottery and sculptures, to keep our classroom and workshops warm. It’s one more step towards ‘net-zero’.

    We pleased to have this opportunity finally: 100% green energy was not supplied to our industrial estate in Lewisham even a year ago! Find out more about what 100% green energy is, and how our suppliers support generation of green energy in our grid here. What does it mean to choose a green energy supplier?

  • COVID-19 measures in the studio

    COVID-19 Measures & face covering policy

    Please wash your hands more often than usual and when you arrive, and before you leave the studio. Soap and paper towels will be provided for handwashing.

    Face covering is not a requirement in the studio. However, we encourage everyone who has cold symptopms or recent contact with Covid-positive persons to use a face covering while visintg us. Distancing is not always possible in a workshop or during a class.

    Our studio has an air circulation system that brings fresh and filtered air from the outside, it helps to keep the space well ventilated and safe to use. We also use HEPA and UV-C Light equipped air purifiers in the studio to maintain air quality.

    If you forgot your mask, disposable medical face masks are available if you wish to use one. Please ask a member of staff.

    Please, do not come in, if you have tested positive for COVID-19 or have any COVID-19 symptoms. Stay at home, self-isolate, and get a test.

    Thank you.

  • Please use a face covering when visiting

    Use of a face covering is compulsory in the studio to all users to make sure 1m+ distancing advice can be maintained. Unfortunately, not all areas of the studio have space to keep 2m distance. We decided in favour of using a face covering with advice of The British Medical Association, and we ask all members to adhere to this decision.

    If use of a face covering is problematic or not possible, we will ask members to postpone the return to the studio, and firing service customers to delay their visits until this rule can be relaxed.

    Thank you for your cooperation. It is greatly appreciated.

    Ceramics Coop

  • Arts Council CV-19 Emergency Response Fund

    We are delighted to share that we have received an offer of support from Arts Council England as a part of Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund. This Grant will be used towards the costs of running the studio at the time when we have to stop or minimize our activities, and next 6 months of operational costs.

    We are humbled by and grateful for this support, and it is a turning point for our organization. From thinking about survival we can now focus on plans for reopening, supporting our community and bringing back services.

    This grant for us is also a recognition of our contribution towards publicly funded arts though work we do teaching pottery and ceramics, serving as a ground for talent development and a place of excellence in making.

    We have worked from the early stages of the “lockdown” trying to secure funding or any local authority support, which was futile for a long time. It had been a hard time of co-working, crunching numbers, attending seminars, emergency planning and bare minimum. This acknowledgement by Arts Council England is a testimony to the persistence of our team, our collective faith in the possibility of the positive outcome for our organization.

    Thank you for all the support, and positive thoughts you were and are sending us. Your goodwill and care gave us a chance to get where we are now. Despite that the future is so unpredictable to many of us, we hope studio will be an island of stability for many in our making community, we are standing in solidarity with organizations, artists and makers who are facing difficulty at the moment.

    Now more than ever we miss having our makers and students around, and we hope we can all be making together soon.

  • COVID-19 – temporary closure

    We unfortunately have to close for visitors/ and work collection due to pandemic, and “Stay at home” policy. We will be closed until it is safe to open again.

    No recently made work will be thrown away at time of the pandemic. If you are concerned about work made before January 2020, please email, so we can keep it for you.

    If your work is left with Firing Service, we will not throw it away.

    Thank you for your understanding and support. Stay safe, and stay at home as much as you can!

    Your Ceramics Coop team.