Turn flat slabs of clay into strong, well-built forms in a focused hands-on workshop, one of the more skill-driven team building workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area. In a ceramics studio in Lower Nob Hill, your group learns essential slab building techniques that work for both functional and sculptural pieces.
The workshop runs two and a half hours and is priced at $155 per guest for private groups of 2 to 20 guests. It is suitable for motivated beginners and intermediate students looking to refine their skills. Sculpture clay and firing for two to three pieces are included, along with shared tools and aprons.
What's Included
- Two and a half hours of instruction and firing
- Clay and firing for two to three pieces
Turn flat slabs of clay into strong, well-built forms in a focused hands-on workshop, one of the more skill-driven team building workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area. In a ceramics studio in Lower Nob Hill, your group learns essential slab building techniques that work for both functional and sculptural pieces.
The workshop runs two and a half hours and is priced at $155 per guest for private groups of 2 to 20 guests. It is suitable for motivated beginners and intermediate students looking to refine their skills. Sculpture clay and firing for two to three pieces are included, along with shared tools and aprons.
What's Included
- Two and a half hours of instruction and firing
- Clay and firing for two to three pieces
- How to make, prepare and join slabs
- How to create and use paper templates
- Drying, firing, glazing and glaze firing, ready in about four to six weeks
About the Workshop
This class emphasizes process, precision and good building habits. Guests learn how to make, prepare and join slabs, create and use paper templates, and properly assemble and reinforce forms for strength and longevity. These techniques are ideal for building boxes, vessels, tiles, architectural forms and clean, geometric shapes.
The one-day workshop focuses on building techniques. Advanced students may bring or purchase translucent porcelain to explore refined surfaces and light-box forms. Finished pieces are dried, fired, glazed and glaze fired by the studio, and those who want the full surface design and glazing experience can continue in one of the studio's six-week courses.
Why It Works for Groups
Slab building rewards planning: templates, measurements and careful joins. That makes it one of the more thoughtful hands on team building activities, where people can work alone or pair up on a design. Its calm, table-based format suits indoor team building activities for small groups, and it is among the creative team building ideas that appeal to engineers, designers and planners alike.
The workshop suits a team building activity, a Christmas party, a birthday, a bachelorette party or a date idea. It fits into staff retreat team building activities as a focused afternoon of making, and for christmas team building every guest ends up with a handmade box, vessel or tile.
About the Studio and Its Founder
The studio was opened in 2012 by a ceramic artist who has been working in clay for over 35 years. After more than twenty years in high-tech manufacturing, he earned a BA and an MFA, taught ceramics at Bay Area colleges, universities and community centers, and managed the ceramic studio at the Richmond Art Center before opening his own space. Throwing on the wheel has always been his first love in clay.
Today the studio runs two San Francisco locations, in Lower Nob Hill and in the Mission, with more than 10,000 square feet of studio space, a team of instructors and cone 5, cone 10 and raku kilns. Its motto is simple: learn, create, share.
What Past Guests Say
One guest whose group included several people who had never touched a pottery wheel called the class a perfect group activity, praising an instructor who explained things clearly, demonstrated techniques from multiple angles and guided anyone who was struggling. Another described a very relaxed, fun and intimate class, and a third booked a class with friends for a birthday and had a blast.
Good to Know
- Great for all skill levels; workshop minimum of 2 participants
- Suitable for adults and kids aged 7 and up; an adult must accompany kids and pay for a separate ticket
- Wear clothes and shoes you do not mind getting dirty
- The last 15 minutes are for clean-up, or add instructor clean-up for $12 per guest
- Please arrive 10 minutes early so the demonstration can start on time
Plan Your Slab-Building Workshop
Share your preferred date and group size to check availability. At $155 per guest for two and a half hours, with clay, instruction and firing included, this workshop gives every guest a set of well-built ceramic pieces.
