For holiday team building activities with a warm glow, this San Francisco Bay Area clay workshop has your group design and make a ceramic luminary and a simple candelabra. In a ceramics studio in Lower Nob Hill, you explore how light interacts with clay through form, thickness, texture and cutouts.
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 great for all skill levels, well suited for beginners, with plenty of room for more experienced students to push their designs further. Instruction and all firing are included.
What's Included
- Two and a half hours of instruction and firing
- One luminary (lantern) and one simple candelabra per guest
- Approachabl
For holiday team building activities with a warm glow, this San Francisco Bay Area clay workshop has your group design and make a ceramic luminary and a simple candelabra. In a ceramics studio in Lower Nob Hill, you explore how light interacts with clay through form, thickness, texture and cutouts.
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 great for all skill levels, well suited for beginners, with plenty of room for more experienced students to push their designs further. Instruction and all firing are included.
What's Included
- Two and a half hours of instruction and firing
- One luminary (lantern) and one simple candelabra per guest
- Approachable hand building techniques: slab, coil and carving
- Shared tools and aprons
- Drying, bisque firing, glazing and glaze firing, ready in about four to six weeks
About the Workshop
Participants design and create functional ceramic forms that glow, learning how form, wall thickness, texture and cutouts affect the way light passes through and reflects from clay surfaces. Using slab, coil and carving, guests experiment with pattern, negative space and structure to make pieces that are both beautiful and functional.
Advanced students are welcome to bring or purchase translucent porcelain to explore how clay body, wall thickness and firing influence light transmission. All firing is included: the studio dries, bisque fires, glazes and glaze fires the pieces and lets everyone know when their work is ready for pickup.
Why It Works for Groups
Lanterns and candelabras are made for the darker months, which makes this a natural pick for office holiday team building activities and end of year gatherings. Every guest designs something personal and useful, and it is a strong choice for creative team building because the cutout patterns invite real design thinking. With 2 to 20 guests, it fits team building activities for small groups and mid-size teams.
The workshop suits a team building activity, a Christmas party, a birthday, a bachelorette party or a date idea. Carving patterns into clay is quiet, focused work, so it doubles as one of the relaxing team building activities, while staying one of the most hands on team building activities on the calendar.
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
- Wear clothes and shoes you do not mind getting dirty, and consider trimming your fingernails
- 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
- Finished pieces are ready for pickup in about four to six weeks
Plan Your Luminaries Workshop
Share your preferred date and group size to check availability. At $155 per guest for two and a half hours, with instruction and all firing included, this workshop gives every guest a glowing luminary and candelabra to keep.
