Clay & Tao · Seasonal WorkshopsA year-long cycle
of deeper
immersion.
Four workshops, four seasons. Each one a concentrated moment to go further — technically, materially, creatively — than regular practice allows.
Spring May · Summer TBA · Automn TBA · Winter TBA
4
Workshops per year — one per season, each with its own material focus
small
Very small groups — real attention, sustained practice, no rushing
5
Elemental dynamics — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water — each season a different phase
Deeper than a class
Technical & perceptual
Informed by Taoist cycles
Very small groups
Zürich Oerlikon
A different rhythm of practice
Concentrated periods of sustained attention.
Unlike regular sessions, workshops are designed as periods of deep immersion — a day, a weekend, or several mornings in a row. They allow participants to step out of habitual working rhythms and engage more fully with material, process and their own creative direction.
Each workshop combines precise technical guidance with material exploration and a broader awareness of the creative process. They are ideal for accelerating skill development, working on something ambitious, or simply reconnecting with the pleasure of making.
"Each workshop is a chance to go further than regular practice allows — technically, materially, and in terms of what you discover about your own relationship to making."
Informed by cycles
The workshops are subtly informed by Taoist perspectives on seasonal transformation — not as a symbolic overlay, but as a practical orientation for understanding how creative processes naturally unfold over time. Each season offers a different quality of attention and a different material focus.
Who they're for
Open to both regular Clay & Tao students and to ceramicists from elsewhere who want a focused intensive. Some workshops require prior ceramic experience — details are specified per workshop.
Very small groups
Every workshop is limited to a very small group. This is not a group class — it is a sustained, individual practice that happens in the company of a few others moving at the same depth.
2026 workshops
Four seasons.
Four distinct practices.
Spring · Wood phaseQi Gong & Ceramics
Creative renewal through movement, breath and surface exploration
Dates : 2–3 May 2026
Format : Weekend · 2 days
Level : All levels welcome
Group : Very small groups
CHF 450
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.
The workshop focuses on how internal awareness — cultivated through movement and breath — can translate directly into material expression. Participants work on surface development and intuitive form-making, guided by the principle that the quality of attention in the body shapes the quality of what is made with the hands.
Taoist framework · Wood phase
Spring resonates with the Wood element — expansion, upward movement, the generation of new form. The workshop draws on these qualities as practical orientations for creative work, not as abstract symbols.
Daoist Qi Gong practice integrated into ceramic sessions
Surface development and creative language research
Intuitive form-making guided by breath and movement
No prior Qi Gong experience required
Summer · Fire phaseLarge Coiled Vessels
Working with scale, expansion and structural vitality
Dates : to be annonced
Format : 5 mornings
Level : All levels welcome
Group : Very small groups
CHF 650
This workshop focuses on the creation of large coiled ceramic vessels through sustained daily practice. Over five mornings, participants progressively build a single large-scale piece — allowing time, repetition and attention to shape both material and creative momentum.
Working at scale demands a different relationship with clay — structural confidence, rhythmic continuity and a willingness to commit to a form over time. This workshop is designed to develop exactly those qualities, through daily practice on a single ambitious piece.
Taoist framework · Fire phase
Summer resonates with the Fire element — heat, visibility, expansion and maximum expression. The workshop supports a more visible, embodied and ambitious relationship to making.
Large-scale coil building — one substantial piece over 5 sessions
Structural reinforcement and surface development
Daily practice rhythm — repetition as a technical tool
Glazing or alternative firing to complete the piece
Automn · Metal phaseWheel Refinement Intensive
Grounded Wheel — consolidating technique through attentive, slower-paced practice
Dates : to be annonced
Format : Intensive · Several sessions
Level : Some wheel experience required
Group : 2 persons
CHF 950
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 — including throwing with larger clay weights and working with grogged clay bodies that demand a different quality of engagement.
This workshop is not about making many pieces — it is about making fewer, better ones. Working with chamotte-rich clays, participants develop the specific body mechanics and sensitivity required to throw larger, more demanding forms. The emphasis is on reduction, discernment and the kind of technical maturation that only comes from sustained, unhurried attention. The Grounded Wheel Approach informs the entire workshop.
Taoist framework · Metal phase
Autumn resonates with the Metal element — contraction, precision, the distillation of what is essential. The workshop emphasises reduction, discernment and technical maturation over production.
Grounded Wheel Approach — breath, posture, control
Throwing larger clay weights — body mechanics and structural confidence
Working with chamotte-rich clays — texture, resistance, form
Slower pace — fewer pieces, deeper attention
Individual feedback on specific technical challenges
Winter · Water phaseForm and Symbolic Space
Centered Hands — consolidating technique through attentive, slower-paced practice
Dates : to be annonced
Format : Intensive · Several sessions
Level : All levels
Includes : Individual Tao Alignment consultation
CHF 720
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.
This is the most integrated of the four workshops — bringing together ceramic making, symbolic thinking and personal reflection. Each participant works on a piece that is genuinely their own, informed by an individual Tao Alignment consultation included in the workshop. The piece is completed with a choice between glazing or optional pit firing.
Taoist framework · Water phase
Winter resonates with the Water element — depth, interiority, the invisible roots of what will emerge. The workshop explores how form can carry symbolic intention, and how working with Qi Men practice can orient a creative process.
Hand-building — design and construction of a personal altar
Individual Tao Alignment consultation included
Selected Daoist cosmological concepts — Qi Men, orientation, timing
Choice of glazing or optional pit firing to complete the piece
The seasonal framework
Five elements.
A year of practice.
Each workshop corresponds to a phase of the Taoist five-element cycle — not as a decorative theme, but as a practical orientation for the kind of attention, material and creative focus each season naturally supports.
These are not abstract ideas. They are patterns observed in nature and human behaviour over millennia — and at Clay & Tao, they are also literally present in every ceramic session: earth, water, fire, metal, wood.
木
Wood · Spring
Growth & expansion
Upward movement, new beginnings, the generation of form. Spring is the season of creative impulse — when energy rises and direction becomes visible.
In ceramic practice: intuitive form-making, surface exploration, reconnecting with creative momentum.
火
Fire · Summer
Expansion & visibility
Maximum expression, heat, transformation. Fire is the element of the kiln — matter changes state irreversibly. The season of making things visible and real.
In ceramic practice: working at scale, structural ambition, sustained daily making.
土
Earth · Transition
Grounding & centre
Stabilisation, receptivity, the quality of matter itself. Earth is clay — the raw material that holds form, absorbs intention and mediates between all other elements.
In ceramic practice: the clay body itself, grounding technique, returning to foundations.
金
Metal · Automn
Precision & reduction
Contraction, discernment, the distillation of what is essential. Metal is the wheel — structure and movement held in tension. The season of refinement over production.
In ceramic practice: wheel refinement, technical maturation, glazing, fewer pieces — deeper attention.
水
Water · Winter
Depth & interiority
Flow, adaptability, the invisible roots of what will emerge in spring. Water is what makes clay plastic — without it, nothing can be shaped. The season of reflection and inner direction.
In ceramic practice: symbolic form-making, personal altar, Qi Men orientation and deeper meaning.
Regular practice
Pottery classes
Very small groups. Flexible scheduling. Four weekly slots. The foundation on which workshops build.
Technical depth
Approach & method
The Grounded Wheel Approach, glaze chemistry, firing techniques. Understanding what happens in the studio.
Beyond the studio
Tao consultations
BaZi, Qi Men, Feng Shui. Structured analytical frameworks for moments of transition or strategic clarity.
Next workshop
Spring — Qi Gong
& Ceramics.
2–3 May 2026 · CHF 450 · Limited to 4 participants. The only workshop with confirmed dates this season — reserve your spot now.
2–3 May 2026 · Very small groups · Zürich Oerlikon