Pottery in Prague: workshops, courses and open studios explained

What a ceramic studio offers

Most pottery studios in Prague run several formats under one roof. Some are for people touching clay for the first time, some for people who already make things and only need a wheel, a table and a kiln. The names vary from studio to studio, so it helps to look at what actually happens in each one: who leads it, how long it lasts, and whether you leave with a finished piece.

Clay also sets its own pace. A pot has to dry before it can be fired, and most pieces are fired twice: once to harden them, once to melt the glaze. That is why almost everything in ceramics, from a two-hour workshop to a course, involves waiting a week or more for the finished object.

One-off workshops

A workshop is a single session, usually two to three hours, led by a teacher from start to finish. You make one piece or a small set, the studio glazes or helps you glaze it, and fires it afterwards. It is the easiest way to find out whether you enjoy working with clay, and a common choice for a birthday, a date or a team.

At Hlinotéka, the one-off format is built for groups: team workshops run for two hours with six to fifteen people, and we glaze and fire the finished pieces.

Courses

A course is a series of sessions that teaches a skill rather than a single object. It follows clay through its whole life: shaping, drying, trimming or refining, the first firing, glazing and the second firing. If you want to be able to make things on your own later, a course is where to start.

Our wheel-throwing course takes four evenings of two and a half hours: two evenings of throwing, one of trimming, and a glazing evening about two weeks later. The hand-building course is one Saturday, with a glazing lesson two weeks after. Clay, glazes and both firings are included in each.

Hand-building and wheel throwing

These are the two main ways of shaping clay. Hand-building means pinching, rolling coils or cutting slabs and joining them into a form. Wheel throwing means shaping a spinning lump of clay on a potter's wheel. They lead to different objects and feel very different to learn; we compare them in Hand-building or the wheel?.

Open studio

Open studio is time in a working studio without a teacher. You come with some experience, use the wheels, tables, tools, clay and glazes, and the studio fires what you make. It is the step between a course and working on your own.

Our open studio runs on Thursday evenings from 18:00 to 21:00, for four people at a time, 750 CZK per session with clay, glazes and firing included. It is for people who have finished a course with us or already know their way around clay.

Membership and studio access

If you make regularly, paying per session becomes awkward. Studio membership gives you your own access to the space, often around the clock, and a place on the shelves for work in progress. Studios usually ask for some experience or a portfolio first, because members work unsupervised with shared equipment. See how membership at Hlinotéka works.

Firing services

Clay made anywhere has to be fired in a kiln, and not everyone has one. Many studios, ours included, fire work made elsewhere. What a studio needs to know before it accepts your pieces, and why, is in Where to fire your ceramics. Our own service is on the firings page.

How to choose

• You want to try clay once, or bring friends or colleagues: a one-off workshop.
• You want to learn to make things yourself: a course, on the wheel or by hand.
• You already know the basics and want time and equipment: open studio.
• You make every week: studio membership.
• You made something at home or elsewhere and need a kiln: a firing service.

Hlinotéka is a ceramic studio in Letná, Prague 7, run by Johana Hnízdilová and Borek Smažinka. We teach wheel throwing and hand-building, run open studio evenings and team workshops, fire work made elsewhere, and host members who use the studio for their own practice.