Umber Works is a neighbourhood gathering place devoted to clay as a material and mindful practice.
Set up and run by artists, our working studio opens for relaxed, small-group classes and clay workshops that support connection, and slow, conscious making.
The studio is often lit by candlelight, with good music, and a calm, intentional atmosphere. Our small gatherings are grounding and unhurried;– somewhere between visiting a friend’s studio and taking part in a shared creative ritual.
ARRIVE. SLOW. CREATE.
The Studio Practice
We specialise in an intimate, accelerated way of learning. With only four wheels in our quiet, intentional neighbourhood studio, our 6-week throwing journeys and Throwing Tasters offer dedicated tuition and ample 1:1 time to find your fluency sooner.
For those seeking a slower pace, our Candlelit Evening Workshops, Slow Forms Masterclasses, and accessible 4-week handbuilding courses are designed for social, relaxed, connection and slow making. Whether you are looking for private wheel throwing guidance or a mindful tableware course, our small-group pottery classes in London are a grounding ritual in your week.
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OUR SIGNATURE CLASSES
A slow, immersive journey into working at scale with clay. Our Slow Forms Clay Retreat series is a gentle invitation to step out of the everyday and into a quieter rhythm, centred around my own clay practice. Each retreat offers an extended session or day held in the studio — a space to slow down, work with your hands, and explore with intention and depth.
Slow Forms: Large-Scale Vessels, explores the art of large-scale handbuilding, using traditional techniques to shape contemporary vessels that are generous in size and presence.
Clay endures. Across centuries, it has carried water, grain, wine, and memory — shaping vessels that outlast the hands that made them. In this three-part series, Slow Forms: Large-Scale Vessels, we explore traditional, large-scale coiling techniques to shape contemporary vessels that are generous in size and presence, and which echo ancient and monumental forms.
Working at scale, we follow the rhythms of the clay, returning week by week as it strengthens and settles. There will be the option to explore traditional surface decorations in the final week.
Retreat Notes
This retreat is over three Saturdays (30 May, 6 June, 13 June)
Each retreat day together runs from 10AM until 2.30PM
Floral tea and light refreshments will be offered throughout the workshop
This retreat is for all-levels, including complete beginners
Space is highly limited to receive maximum guidance
All tools, materials and guidance will be provided and firing is included as well
You will leave having created a single, vast vessel in your choice of clay (terracotta, toasted stoneware or white stoneware) which will be yours to collect around 4–6 weeks later, after careful drying and firing
You can join a glazing workshop at a later date for this should you wish but we will explore gorgeous techniques during this series
You can find our booking policy here
We so look forward to welcoming you in for this very special workshop
Join us as the evening light shifts and the candles are lit for an extended, immersive dive into the intricate beauty of Nerikomi ––––– a focused, rhythmic exploration of colour, pattern, and precision.
We’ll start in golden hour and finish under candlelight.
This session is a deeper exploration than our standard classes, teaching you how to stack and slice clay to create visually complex, marbled slabs and then form these around our studio moulds to create a bowl, small tray, or plate, or an object of your choice. Perfect for those who want to slow down and learn a technical skill in a beautiful setting. No experience needed—just a love for pattern, precision, and attention.
Session Notes
We offer this workshop once a month, on a Wednesday evening (18.30–21.00)
You can opt to have your work glazed in our glossy transparent studio glaze or leave unglazed. Your work will be glazed (if opted for) and fired for you after the workshop, ready to collect around a month later.
Please find our booking policy here.
Candlelit Evening Classes and Meditation • Throwing Tasters and Courses • Ancestral By-Hand Practices • Nerikomi and Kurinuki • Moon Jars and Large Scale Forms • Retreat Days • Families • and Private Events
SEE ALL WORKSHOPS
For those of you who feel comfortable with the fundamentals of throwing on the wheel, and would like to explore more considered shapes ––– we invite you to join Altered Forms.
This relaxed, four-person evening course has been designed to offer you refine your throwing skills in a calm and supportive setting.
We ask you feel confident centring your clay and pulling a basic form. Beyond that, we will work with you at your level and you will receive gentle, hands-on guidance and adjustments to support your throwing practice.
With attentive guidance, you can spend more time developing key skills, throwing more complex shapes and larger weights of clay, and then further explore, based on your interests: creating more complex forms and additions including vases, water vessels, spouts; adding handles for mugs, jugs and pitchers; carving for functionality (colanders, strainers, candle holders) and surface decoration (fluting, textures, additional of other clays); working with slips; and finishing and refining your work.
To offer you maximum support, we will never have more than four in our throwing classes and you will always have your own, dedicated wheel and a quiet space to practice.
Course Dates
Tuesday Evenings, 6.45—8.45PM
14 April • 21 April • 28 April • 5 May • 12 May • Glazing: 19 May
Monday Evenings, 6.45—8.45PM
8 June • 15 June • 22 June • 29 June • 6 July • Glazing: 13 July
Included
This course includes the use of our house clays, either Toast or Chalk. Should you wish to work in other clays, they are available to purchase as an extra, subject to availability – please get in touch for pricing and we will gladly provide in advance.
Workshop Notes
Each session is two hours – but we’ll allow for ten minutes at the end to clean down your workstation.
This series is aimed at those with a little experience, however if it speaks to you and you are just starting out, we’ll support you to work at your level. Just get in touch if you have any questions.
Please bring an apron and old tea towel, and consider cutting your nails short for throwing sessions.
Please find our booking policy here.
By Hand —— is a grounded and intentional four week course, in which we invite you to discover the ancient rhythms of pinch, coil, and slab to create a your own tableware set for your Summer table.
Building pottery by hand is an ancient, connected, and beautiful process and in this series, we look at how earth was first shaped to create vessels for fire, cooking, storage, and ritual. And today, how we can still sense the profound connection between maker and object that the slow, hands-on shaping of clay offers.
How We’ll Work Together
You will be working in a warm, deeply supportive environment with like-minded people and we keep our classes small, so that you receive as much guidance as you need.
Over four weeks you will create a beautiful Oribe-inspired tableware set; we suggest (although you are welcome to develop your own projects):
Two bowls
Two plates
Two cups
Workshop Notes
Each session is 2.5 hours – but we’ll allow for ten minutes at the end to organise your work and clean down your workstation.
This series is aimed and and suitable for complete beginners, however if you have a little more experience, we’ll support you to work at your level.
You’ll keep up to six of your best pieces to be glazed and put forward for the final firing. Additional pieces can be glazed/fired for a nominal fee (to cover glazing materials and firings costs) however we do encourage students to be critical in order to respect the earth. Your final pieces will be ready to collect within a couple of weeks of your final session.
Please find our booking policy here.
A relaxed and intimate four-person throwing course at Umber Works — aimed at beginners but open to all levels.
Being one of just four people, you’ll receive careful and attuned adjustments on your technique within our very special studio setting meaning that whether you are just beginning or have already spent some time on the wheel, we’ll tailor the session to get you where you want to be with your throwing practice. Amongst the calm of our studio, you will always have your own, dedicated wheel and a quiet space to practice.
Course Dates
Monday Mornings, 10.00AM—12.00PM
13 April • 20 April • 27 April • 11 May • 18 May • Glazing: 1 June
This course has gap weeks to allow for your bank holiday Mondays
Monday Evenings, 6.45—8.45PM
13 April • 20 April • 27 April • 11 May • 18 May • Glazing: 1 June
This course has gap weeks to allow for your bank holiday Mondays
Tuesday Evenings, 6.45—8.45PM
26 May • 2 June • 9 June • 16 June • 23 June • Glazing: 30 June
For Beginners: How We’ll Work Together
(If you have some experience, each session will be tailored to your needs)
In Week 1, you will be shown how to weigh and prepare your clay for throwing, and carefully shown how to centre your clay, use throwing tools, and work towards creating simple cylindrical shapes.
In Weeks 2, 3 and 4, always with support and ample attention, you will continue to hone your throwing technique and perhaps work towards more complex shapes if you feel confident.
In Week 5, you will be back on the wheel for for turning, and you will learn how to turn (trim) the bases of your chosen pieces to refine the shape and add details such as foot rings.
In Week 6, you will spend this final session glazing your pieces in a beautiful selection of colours of your choosing, ready for their final firing.
Workshop Notes
Each session is two hours work – and we’ll leave time at the end to clean down your workstation and store work.
You’ll keep up to eight of your best pieces to be glazed and put forward for the final firing. Additional pieces can be glazed/fired for a nominal fee (to cover materials and firings costs). Your final pieces will be ready to collect within a month of your final glazing session.
Please bring an apron and old tea towel, and consider cutting your nails short for throwing sessions.
Please find our booking policy here.
Our Candlelit Evening series is an invitation to slow, ground, and connect.
In this tactile, peaceful workshop, you will learn to create a beautiful coffee or tea cup for your morning rituals. Working by candlelight over an hour and a half, you’ll be gently walked through creating the vessel of your cup, as well as carving into the surface, or attaching handles, should you wish.
Workshop Notes
We offer this workshop once a month, on Wednesday evenings (19.00–20.30)
For this workshop, you will use either “Chalk” — a tactile, sanded white stoneware sourced exclusively from English clays, or “Terra” — a strong, sanded terracotta brown, also sourced from the English Midlands.
Your work will be glazed in our transparent studio glaze as standard and fired for you after the workshop, ready to collect around a month later. Or you can opt to return for a glazing class should you wish to explore that element of the process.