Seasonal Ceramic Workshops in Zurich
A year-long cycle of intensive ceramic experiences exploring rhythm, material and transformation.
Immersive ceramic intensives exploring material, technique and cyclical practice.
Clay & Tao proposes a series of seasonal ceramic workshops conceived as moments of deeper immersion in the processes of making. These intensives offer participants the opportunity to focus on specific technical approaches while engaging with broader questions of rhythm, transformation and creative direction.
A different rhythm of practice
Unlike regular ceramic classes, workshops are designed as concentrated periods of sustained attention. They allow participants to step out of habitual working rhythms and engage more fully with material, process and perceptual development.
Each workshop combines technical guidance, material exploration and reflective awareness of the creative process.
A practice informed by cycles
The workshops are subtly informed by Taoist perspectives on cyclical change and seasonal transformation. Rather than functioning as a symbolic framework, these references offer a practical orientation for understanding how creative processes unfold over time.
Seasonal themes provide both conceptual direction and material focus.
Areas of exploration
Depending on the workshop, participants may engage with:
– Large-scale hand-building techniques
– Refinement of wheel-thrown forms
– Surface development and glaze experimentation
– Primitive or alternative firing approaches
– Process-oriented or symbolic approaches to form
These workshops support both technical deepening and a more coherent relationship to one’s own creative trajectory.
Current and upcoming workshops
Spring Workshop — Qi Gong & Ceramics
Creative renewal through movement, breath and surface exploration
This workshop explores the generative dynamics of spring through the combined practices of Daoist Qi Gong and ceramic making.
Working with movement, gesture and tactile processes, participants reconnect with creative momentum while developing sensitivity to surface and intuitive form.
Inspired by the expansive qualities traditionally associated with the Wood phase, the workshop focuses on how internal awareness can translate into material expression.
2-3 May 2026
Summer Workshop — Large Coiled Vessels
Working with scale, expansion and structural vitality
This workshop focuses on the creation of large coiled ceramic vessels through sustained daily practice.
Participants engage with clay as a medium for developing structural confidence, rhythmic continuity and expressive presence in form.
Resonating with the expansive qualities traditionally associated with the Fire phase of seasonal transformation, the workshop supports a more visible and embodied relationship to making.
Over five mornings, participants progressively build a single large-scale piece, allowing time, repetition and attention to shape both material and creative momentum.
Dates to be announced soon.
Autumn Workshop — Wheel Refinement Intensive
Centered Hands
A focused intensive dedicated to the consolidation of wheel-throwing technique through attentive, slower-paced practice.
Working in a very small group, participants refine centring, proportion and structural clarity while developing a more grounded relationship to form.
Aligned with the introspective qualities of the autumn season, the workshop emphasises reduction, discernment and technical maturation.
Dates to be announced soon.
Winter Workshop — Form and Symbolic Space
Create a personal ceramic altar through Qimen practice
In this winter intensive, participants design and build a personal ceramic altar using hand-building techniques while exploring selected Daoist cosmological concepts related to timing, orientation and transformation.
The workshop includes an individual Tao Alignment consultation and concludes with a choice between glazing or optional pit firing.
Dates to be announced soon
