Pottery & Community in South Tottenham
Get hands-on with terracotta at Paloma Pottery in South Tottenham, London. We offer a range of children's and adult pottery classes both in our studio, as well as in neighbouring cafes, schools and community centres.
Welcome to Paloma Pottery
Paloma Pottery is a community-minded pottery studio working exclusively in terracotta
Our choice to only use terracotta allows us to reduce our glaze firing temperatures in the kiln by nearly 200° Celsius (relative to “stoneware” temperature firings), allowing us to reduce our carbon footprint as we practice our craft, whilst also helping us as a small business to keep our energy bills in hand.
Alongside offering classes in our studio, we also have a “mobile pottery” mode of pottery class delivery, which sees us offering classes in the community, eg. primary schools, cafes, community centres.
Our aim is to explore our creativity through terracotta, bringing people and communities together - and think a little differently about our environmental impact on the planet as we connect whilst practicing pottery.
Classes
Express Yourself… in Terracotta!
Explore our classes below for creative pottery classes for your kid(s), pottery dates for you and a partner/parent/friend, or a unique craft project with locals from your neighbourhood.
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Kids' Pottery Classes
Creative pottery classes that teach children about more than clay, combining pottery skills with creative problem solving, environmental learning and curiosity about cultures around the world.
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Adult Pottery Classes
Learn, experiment and slow things down with guided pottery classes for adults at our South Tottenham studio and partnering local spaces.
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Workshops
Pottery workshops for adults built around specific crafting projects for adults who want to create something beautiful for their home, or to gift.
Our Ethos
The Values Guiding Paloma Pottery
How we teach, where & how we deliver classes - even the clay we work with - are shaped by three things we care deeply about.
Respect Mama Earth
We work exclusively in terracotta, thereby allowing us to run all glaze firings in our kiln at “earthenware” temperatures, meaning we can reduce our glaze firing temperatures by 200°C per glaze firing, relative to “stoneware” firing temperatures.
This is a practical way for us to reduce our emissions from glaze firings whilst students continue to make, learn and develop their craft. It also helps us as a small business keep our energy costs in hand, making us more financially sustainable in the long run.
Community Is (Basically) Everything
We believe connected communities will play a vital role in tomorrow’s world. To support the intangible but essential process of how a community can become connected, we offer classes both at our South Tottenham studio, as well as in a mobile capacity at local cafés, schools and community spaces. This helps make pottery more accessible to all members of the community, whilst facilitating positive connections over shared, happy moments. It also allows us to collaborate and strengthen relationships with independent spaces that align with our values, developing a network of likeminded businesses and organizations locally.
Creative Kids Grow Into Creative Thinkers
Our kids' pottery classes are designed to encourage creative problem solving, introduce children to different cultures and build an understanding of why caring for our environment matters.
We believe that curious, creative kids grow into curious, creative thinkers. And that is exactly what tomorrow’s world will need more of!
Why Terracotta?
Terracotta literally means “baked earth” in Italian. It's a grounding, rustic, iron oxide-rich clay body that humans have been using for over 25,000 years.
Terracotta is glaze fired at “earthenware” temperatures, allowing Paloma Pottery to keep glaze firings almost 200°C lower than “stoneware” temperatures, another popular firing range in studio pottery - also with many merits of its own.
Our love and choice of terracotta isn't only about its warm tone and its primal, tactile character. It's an example of our values informing our choice of raw materials, to be more conscious of the emissions involved as we practice our craft.
Classes
What's Happening at Paloma Pottery?
Check out our weekly and half term Kids Clay Club classes, developed around a new environmental and/or cultural theme every half term.
Paloma the “mobile”
Pottery
We bring handbuilding pottery classes into schools, cafés, community centres and other spaces around London, having developed a secure way to transport pieces back to our studio base in South Tottenham where we have our kiln.
Offering classes in a mobile capacity helps make pottery accessible to groups who for various reasons may not otherwise be able to reach our studio, while giving us the chance to partner with brilliant local organisations and small businesses, and actively participating in building a more connected local network and economy!
Have a group, space or idea that could use some clay? Let’s talk.
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Our “handmade by” Paloma Pottery collection
Alongside our classes, we're making a collection of handmade terracotta pottery designed to celebrate those daily rituals at home.
Paloma Post
Sign up to our monthly newsletter with updates on our upcoming classes, workshops, handmade collections and reflections on the inspiration that motivates us.
Interested in rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands messy?
Find the class that feels right for you and/or your kid(s).