Before Christmas Bob and Bruffin were given a present from a friend to do a pottery taster session at SkandiHus. Here is what the experience was like…
Back in March of 2025 Bruffin was gifted a taster session at SkandiHus – which has three branches – DeBeauvoir, Hackney and Walthamstow. We waited until the DeBeauvoir studio reopened after a renovation as it was the nicest and easiest location of the three to get to however it took till November to open and to take bookings.
When the date approached we received an email confirming our booking but along side this there was a 3 page handbook of rules and regulations – you must wear an apron or rent one if yours didn’t fit their standards, you must bring your own towels to wipe your hands and surfaces. The studio would have all the widows open at all times so you would have to bring extra layers to stay warm (in the middle of November) You would have to help clean the entire studio after your class so it would be ready for the next class, among other requirements which I cant be bothered to list here.
So on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon we took a walk to find the studio (don’t rely on Google Maps it sends you round and round and tells you that its at the other end of the road) The location is actually the slightly taller, large windowed building nearer the church. We buzzed in and headed upstairs.
The studio itself its quite spacious, the large windows really let the light in, lots of plants and pots on display. There was only one other person in class – so that was pretty good! We had an introduction from the instructor – Martha Eve, a little of her history, the building and pottery itself.
It was freezing in the studio, despite having multiple layers on!
Then we were told we would be able to make a 9cm small bowl, small vase or dish nothing more and nothing larger! We would be allowed one item to be fired at the end of the day all the rest would be destroyed of before we left. This was disappointing as we had been thinking of what we wanted to make since we booked. Given the length of the session and how much it cost you would expect at the very least you could leave with something you wanted to make not something you were told to make, I mean where was the creativity?
We were handed a small lump of clay and we got to work. All three of us had previous experience of throwing so it was more of a refresher class. We each were allotted enough clay to make 9cm somethings. Not the Ramyeon bowl or Vase that we were intending.
Bruffin made three dishes, the instructor actually damaged one of them but in return offered for two items to be fired which was a good trade.
Bob made a one dish, a tiny impractical vase and a Ramekin – there wasn’t much else you could make with so little clay & time to be honest.
At least we would get to choose our glaze we thought, it might look really nice blue…. we were wrong! You would be given the basic glaze of White and Sand as anything more could only be done if you were part of the 12 week class. Once again disappointing!
The class was from 1pm to 3.30pm by the time we had the intro and were throwing our clay it was 1.30pm but promptly at 2.30pm the wheels were turned off and we were instructed to start to clean for the remaining time. At 2.50pm we were bid farewell and told to come and collect our creations in a couple of weeks . So for a 2 and half hour class it came to only 1 hour of actual wheel throwing.
We tided up the wheels, the areas around the wheels, washed up our equipment etc
Then we labeled our creations – 1 for Bob and 2 for Bruffin as agreed and we left at 2.55pm with the concept of picking up in a couple of weeks.
As it was over Christmas and New Year the pick up time was slightly longer than usual. Then at the end of January it was time to pick up. The times for collections are all particularly awkward either really early or really late but we had until late February to pick up. We got there was told to wait outside for 20minutes. The Sunday morning class was filled to the brim so clearly Skandihus is doing well! Eventually another member of staff came out and handed us only one item each! despite what the instructor had said. We tried to question it but the instructors who were there were very terse bordering on rude! So we have left with only 2 items unfortunately with Skandihus not answering emails or the phone. On looking at the items – both are chipped, with dents out of them and both are 3 times smaller than what we left to be fired in fact they don’t look like our items at all but pre done ones that the staff had made.
Overall we can’t say it was worth £180 but at least we refreshed our knowledge and can maybe go somewhere else to go and rent a wheel some day and throw by ourselves and let our creativity make something unique!
Have you tried a Pottery Class yet? Where did you go? How was it, we would like to hear your experiences and maybe we could try there next time! Leave a comment. We will be back next time with another post on something we have done or found in London!
Climbing Moss 