For unique team building events in San Francisco that give everyone a taste of both sides of pottery, this three-hour combo splits the time between the wheel and the hand-building table. Your group spends 1.5 hours throwing on the pottery wheel and 1.5 hours building with clay slabs in a community studio in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The event is designed for groups of 6 to 50 guests, with no experience needed. It takes place in a pottery studio in Potrero Hill, San Francisco. Expect to get your hands dirty while making both functional and artistic work, and feel free to bring your own drinks.
What's Included
- A three-hour private event: 1.5 hours of wheel throwing and 1.5 hours of hand-building
- Instruction in
For unique team building events in San Francisco that give everyone a taste of both sides of pottery, this three-hour combo splits the time between the wheel and the hand-building table. Your group spends 1.5 hours throwing on the pottery wheel and 1.5 hours building with clay slabs in a community studio in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The event is designed for groups of 6 to 50 guests, with no experience needed. It takes place in a pottery studio in Potrero Hill, San Francisco. Expect to get your hands dirty while making both functional and artistic work, and feel free to bring your own drinks.
What's Included
- A three-hour private event: 1.5 hours of wheel throwing and 1.5 hours of hand-building
- Instruction in basic wheel and slab techniques from studio instructors
- Clay, tools and use of the pottery wheels
- Free add-on options: Wheel-throwing Olympics, group throwing, and candle making during the holidays
- Each guest keeps four pieces, two from each technique
- Trimming, glazing and firing by the studio team
How the Session Runs
- Meet your instructors and get set up with clay and tools
- Spend half the event at the wheel learning basic wheel techniques to make bowls, mugs or vases
- Spend the other half at the tables building with slabs, adding texture and layers
- Choose your four favorite pieces to keep, two from each technique
- Leave the finishing to the studio and pick up your work a few weeks later
Why It Works for Groups
Some people love the speed and focus of the wheel; others prefer the calm, chatty pace of the hand-building table. The combo gives every guest both, which makes it one of the most interactive team building activities for adults with very different personalities. Halfway through, the energy shifts, and colleagues who were heads-down at the wheel end up comparing slab mugs and swapping tips.
Three hours is long enough to feel like a real outing, so this is a strong fit for company team building events, department celebrations and offsites. During the holidays the free candle making option turns it into one of the more seasonal holiday team building activities, and the extra pieces mean many guests keep a few for themselves and give the rest away.
It is also a good answer for teams searching for creative team building activities for adults that go deeper than a quick craft hour, and one of the few team building events where guests leave with four handmade pieces each.
Team and private events are designed to be creative, casual and a lot of fun, and the facilities can host up to 50 people. Events run Monday through Friday between 10:30am and 3:30pm, and the Potrero Hill studio may be able to host an evening event starting no later than 6 PM on request.
After the Event
Guests do not need to wait around for the kiln. The studio team trims, glazes and fires the work, which typically takes four to six weeks, and then sends an email when everything is ready for pickup. Finished pieces are dishwasher safe, microwave safe and food safe, so the mugs and bowls a team makes can go straight into daily use. Shipping is not offered, so plan on a local pickup.
About the Studio
The host runs community pottery and woodworking studios in San Francisco, Oakland and San Mateo, built around a shared space where people connect through art, learning and making with their hands. The original studio was founded in Potrero Hill in 2018 and holds a 4.8-star rating from 64 reviews: a 7,000 square foot neighborhood pottery studio with 53 wheels, two slab rollers, two extruders, 35 dipping glazes, a spray booth, 7 kilns, a slip casting station, a glaze mixing room and plenty of natural light. The SoMa studio joins a ceramic studio with a woodshop, so a group can go from throwing on the wheel to turning on the lathe. The teaching approach focuses on simplicity, relaxed instruction and experimentation.
Booking Details
- Every booking includes at least 6 guests; reach out about smaller parties
- Book at least 48 hours in advance
- Once the date, time and headcount are confirmed, a 20% deposit reserves the event and goes toward the final cost
- The deposit is refundable up to two weeks before the event and can be moved to a new date up to 48 hours before
- The remaining balance is paid before the event starts
- Headcount changes are due at least 48 hours ahead; guests added on the day without that notice carry an extra fee
Plan Your Combo Event
Share your preferred weekday, start time and headcount to check availability. With three hours on the wheel and at the slab table, plus glazing and firing, it is the most complete clay experience in the lineup.
