What to expect

• Clay Practice: Five days of making in our serene, shaded courtyard. Morning and afternoon sessions (3 hours each) with options to explore hand-building, wheel-throwing, and surface decoration techniques, giving you time and space to experiment and build your skills.

• Skilled Facilitation & Guidance: Led by two experienced craftswomen passionate about sharing their craft, this retreat is for everyone. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced potter, we will meet you where you are in your clay practice, and help you create pieces designed with intention.

• Pottery wheel-throwing: You will learn essential skills to throw with confidence and ease, covering clay preparation, centering, opening and pulling, as well as shaping simple and complex forms. For experienced throwers, tailored sessions will concentrate on your specific goals such as throwing larger/taller, improving consistency, or developing mastery of a particular shape or technique. Taught in small groups (max. four participants), each session will include hands-on practice with tailored feedback and guidance.

• Hand-building: Come with ideas, images, drawings and be ready for lots of coiling. We will have plenty of time and lots of clay to make big or small pieces. I will show you how I coil according to a design, paying attention to measurements, curves and proportions, and how I sgraffito, inlay, and add decorative elements. Things will dry fast enough so we can work on many pieces. I will bring some plaster so we can also make sprig molds, exciting!

• Glaze making 101: Find out how glazes work in this hands-on session combining essential glaze chemistry with practical testing so you leave with real results. We will be formulating, mixing and applying glazes to test tiles of our stoneware clays. If you find a glaze you love you’ll be able to recreate it to decorate your piece in the future. Bring your curiosity, glaze inspo pics and a notebook.

• Firings: There will be one bisque firing mid-way through the retreat for smaller pieces, followed by a surprise alternative firing. Any larger works which are not ready for firing during the retreat will be bisqued once dry and shipped to you (shipping costs not included).

• Free time: We will balance our clay practice with time to enjoy the island. Hike to a local viewpoint, go for swim, chill at the beach, grab a cocktail by the water, read, rest. Or simply enjoy some independent clay time in our outdoor studio. This choice is yours.

Accommodation & Meals

• Six nights in a beautiful, traditional stone house set in valley of Eresos, just minutes from the sea. The house offers restorative communal spaces, light-filled bedrooms, and peaceful outdoor areas for creativity, reflection and gathering.

• Breakfasts and lunches will be served daily, prepared with care from locally-sourced produce. Snacks and beverages will be available through the day. Dinner is not included.

Optional excursions

• Visit to the traditional island pottery of Dimitris Kouvdis, for a demonstration of the harvesting and preparation of wild clay and a tour of his wood fire kiln.

• Trip to the Petrified Forest, an otherworldly landscape and quiet place to walk and reflect.

Who this retreat is for

• Beginners and experienced makers welcome. With a maximum group size of 10 people, facilitated by two experienced craftswomen, teaching will be intentionally paced and person-centred, adapted to meet you where you are as a human and a maker.

Pricing

• Your own room

  1 person, Main House Double Bedroom, Shared Bathroom - €1600

• Shared room (3 with double beds, 1 with separate beds)

  2 people, Main House Double bedroom, Shared Bathroom - €2600 (€1300/person)

• Studio/annex

  2 people, Studio/Annex Double bed + Sofa bed, Ensuite - €3000 (€1500/person)
  3 people, Studio/Annex Double bed + Sofa bed, Ensuite - €3600 (€1200/person)

Safe Space

Join us in sunny Eresos for a week of mindful making and restorative nature.