The Pinch Pot: The Oldest Technique of All

The pinch pot is where pottery itself began. You take a ball of clay, press a thumb into the centre, and gently pinch the walls outward and upward, turning as you go. Slowly, a small vessel forms in your palm.

Its simplicity makes it the perfect first lesson. It teaches a beginner to feel the clay — to sense when a wall is even, when it’s too thin, when it needs to rest. There is no machine to hide behind; it is just the maker and the material.

We start every trainee here, with the same technique a human used by a fire ten thousand years ago. It is a humbling, grounding way to begin, and a reminder that great craft needs very little except skill and care.