About The Ceramic School

Hey, I’m Josh, founder of The Ceramic School.

My journey with ceramics began long before I knew where it would lead. I was introduced to clay at a young age when my mum took a pottery lesson. Soon after, our basement was transformed into a pottery studio where I spent countless hours surrounded by clay, helping my mum prepare for art shows and absorbing the creativity that filled our home.

At school I was fortunate to have pottery lessons, and before long I found myself working as a art teacher’s assistant. I spent countless hours wedging clay, stacking kilns, and learning the fine details of the craft. At home we were surrounded by ceramic masterpieces – mugs, vases, sculptures – and the work wasn’t just decoration; it shaped my understanding of ceramics as something profound and transformative. From the beginning I knew clay was more than an art form… it was a way of life.

Like many artists, my path took a few unexpected turns. I went to university to study Fine Art, originally wanting to become a painter… but while studying I discovered sculpture and computer 3D animation – another form of sculpting, this time in a digital space. I pursued it fully and earned a BA in Computer Visualization and 3D Animation from Ravensbourne in London.

After university I met my now wife, Hannah, and flew to Austria with a one-way ticket. To pay rent I started working with my dad, who was a computer programmer, and that quickly turned into a career in web development, and over the next ten years I became a lead developer building online platforms and helping businesses grow.

But through all those years, clay never really left me… and even while I was building websites and spending my days behind a screen, there was always a part of me that missed the feeling of working with my hands. Office life, deadlines, and endless hours at a computer were rewarding in their own way, but something important was missing. I found myself longing for the slower, more human side of creativity – the feeling of shaping something real with clay.

Eventually I realised that what I missed most wasn’t just pottery itself, but the sense of connection that comes from making things and sharing that experience with others. I began thinking about how the internet – the world I had spent years building in – could be used differently. Instead of creating websites for businesses, what if it could connect ceramic artists around the world? What if it could become a place where makers could share ideas, inspiration, and techniques across borders?

That idea became the starting point for what would eventually become The Ceramic School. In 2016, after sending my 100th invoice as a developer, and just a week before my first child was born, I realised it was time to return to something creative that truly mattered to me. That’s when The Ceramic School was born.

A Global Platform for Ceramic Artists

What started as a small website sharing ceramic inspiration quickly grew into something much bigger. Today, The Ceramic School operates as a global platform that connects ceramic artists through community, events, publishing, and shared learning experiences. Our network now includes over 500,000 ceramic artists worldwide across social media, our newsletter, and our online community. Through live demonstrations, artist talks, global events like Clay Camp and The Ceramics Congress, and collaborative projects, artists from around the world come together to exchange ideas, techniques, and inspiration. At any moment you might be watching a Japanese potter demonstrate a technique, learning from a Dutch ceramic artist, or chatting with fellow ceramicists from across the globe.

The goal has always been simple: to connect ceramic artists and make knowledge about clay easier to share and discover. And while many artists discover us through online pottery workshops and demonstrations, The Ceramic School is much more than a place to take classes. It’s a creative ecosystem built around ceramic culture…. and right now we run:

• global online events and artist talks
• community spaces for ceramic artists
• creative research and development programs
• publishing and artist storytelling
• residencies and in-person creative gatherings
• and digital tools designed to support ceramic artists

Some examples are ceramics.page, a platform we built to help ceramic artists create their own websites, sell work online, and manage their creative businesses, ceramics.social – a platform to help ceramic artists manage their social media, and potsy.shop – an online marketplace just for verified ceramic artists. I hope that you can see that our goal is to support artists not just in learning techniques, but in building sustainable creative lives,and ultimately helping them reach their full potential.

Finally, in 2023, after seven years as a purely online platform, The Ceramic School took its next step and purchased a property in Feldkirchen in Kärnten, Austria. Our vision is to develop it into a creative hub where ceramic artists can meet, collaborate, and work together in person. We are currently renovating the space and hope to open it in 2026 as a place for residencies, studios, events, and community gatherings. You can follow our journey as the project develops.

My own path has taken many twists… from pottery studios to art to animation, from web development back to clay… but every step eventually led back to the same idea: art & ceramics is best when it’s shared, and The Ceramic School exists to bring ceramic artists together.

So if you work with clay, whether you’re just starting or have decades of experience, you’re part of a global community of makers who care deeply about this medium… and you’re very welcome here.

If you love working with clay, there are many ways to get involved:

• Become a member
• Join our newsletter
• Attend one of our global events like Clay Camp and The Ceramics Congress
• Explore artist workshops and demonstrations
• Connect with other ceramicists in the ceramics community

Together we can keep the knowledge, culture, and spirit of ceramics alive for generations to come.

Let’s continue spreading the love of clay.

Cheers,
Josh