There are many activities one can choose to do, and one of them which has steadily been gaining popularity is pottery making. A highly tactile experience, making pottery has been said to not just be an art form, but also a therapeutic experience at that, as it requires concentration and focus to be fully aware and present while shaping objects with your hands. If you’ve always thought about experiencing pottery making for yourself, head over to Terra & Ember, and get started on creating something that’s uniquely yours!
About Terra & Ember
Though founded only in early 2019, Terra & Ember’s pottery roots go back to 2016. Alan and Sarah, the husband-and-wife team and founders of Terra & Ember, first took up pottery back then after graduating from university before starting their jobs. When they first got exposed to pottery, it was just a way to pass time and pick up a new skill, but little did they know that they would be falling head-over-heels in love with it. Fast forward to today, and their studio is about building a communal craft space for potters and artists alike, bringing in independent artists to run their workshops in tandem with their own wheel throwing workshops and courses. They are also a mobile pottery workshop provider, bringing their wheels with them to run corporate events or parties on request. During their spare time, they make small batches of ceramic ware inspired by the ecology around their studio and neighbourhood. Till today, Alan and Sarah still manage everything by themselves, dividing the tasks between themselves.
From Passion
What was a leisurely hobby soon turned into a burning passion, and once the realisation hit, Alan decided to pursue this newfound passion full-time, leaving his career as a graphic designer. He bought his first pottery wheel and electric kiln in 2017 with the scholarship stipend he saved from his Master’s Degree, and started practicing at home. Once in a while, he would receive requests from friends and family, and they set up an Instagram account called “Handful of Clay” to post up and sell his works after about a year and a half. During that time, they only the space of a tiny 10 by 4 feet storeroom to work out of, lacking the capital resources or space to start production. However, this prompted Alan to approach the pottery business from a different angle where space would not be an issue, leading to them starting off as a mobile pottery workshop host, and eventually propelling Terra & Ember into being a pottery workshop vendor.
An Invitation To Experiment
Terra & Ember notes that people could be intimidated by pottery making, seeing as it’s one of the oldest art forms. At Terra & Ember, they hope to make this incredible art form more accessible by simplifying the methodology of wheel throwing and rebranding it as more of an experiential art. In other words, to focus less on “perfection”, but to focus more on the tactility of the clay, making each creation uniquely theirs. Furthermore, they are also out to show that pottery need not be still and stationary, therefore bringing pottery to people, at places where they feel familiar, convenient and comfortable. As long as one has the desire to experience the tactility of clay and learn a hand craft, they will find a place at Terra & Ember.
Bringing Pottery To You
As a mobile pottery studio, Terra & Ember can conduct workshops at any venue in Singapore, be in a meeting room, pantry or even outdoor corporate events. As such, they literally bring pottery to your doorstep, where you are at your most comfortable. With education and sharing at their core, they hope that students are able to learn and takeaway something from each class, and to enjoy the experience fully. Planning, strategising and analysing content and methods are always ongoing to ensure a better learning experience for all. Most recently, they have emerged as #1 on our Top 10 Pottery Classes in Singapore and are looking to grow their brand, build up studio equipment, and renovate their current space to provide a better ceramic experience. They are also looking at building a like-minded ceramic enthusiasts that love plants; they actually organise a monthly event “Folia Paradise”, a plant preorder collection day cum tiny-scaled garden event, in collaboration with Garden Paradise Singapore (GPS).
“When we first started the practice, we always admired and feel anxious about all the beautiful ceramic pots we see on Instagram and worrying that we might not be able to achieve that level. It was after countless scrolling that we realized we overlooked an important factor that contributed to those picturesque images that these studios were feeding into our senses; the countless failures, hours of exploration and practice that had culminated in one tiny square frame. It was then that we realized that we should focus on what we have and build our own from there and hopefully, someday, these sincere and earnest practice we put into ourselves may be portrayed in a beautiful light to the others, doing ceramics is just one of the many ways.” – Terra and Ember
To learn more about pottery or to bring pottery to you, visit terraandember.com!
