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This two-week course is a deep dive into wheel throwing for tableware. You’ll spend your days at the wheel, practicing, experimenting, and creating your own set of functional pieces: bowls, plates, cups, and more.
Throughout the course, you’ll refine your throwing technique: learning to center more confidently, pull even walls, and explore new shapes and proportions. It’s a rare chance to fully focus on making and to see real progress in a short time.
During the first week, we’ll concentrate on building and strengthening your throwing foundations. You’ll practice cylinders, bowls, and plates, explore ways to make matching pieces, and experiment with throwing off the hump for smaller forms.
In the second week, you’ll move on to designing and creating your own tableware set. We’ll work on throwing small series and focus on consistency, balance, function, and personal style. You will also have the chance to experiment with surface decoration techniques like sgraffito, underglazes, or adding texture to your pieces.
By the end of the course, you will select the pieces you would like to keep and decide on a glaze for your whole set. (Firing and shipping take place after the course; shipping costs are not included.)
The course is focused on learning foundational skills for tableware design, but you will also be able to make and keep a full tableware set
Lisa Kosak is a French-Belgian ceramic artist based in Berlin, Germany. In 2017, she founded Helka ceramics, a small label focused on dinnerware and utilitarian objects that highlight the thought, time and craftsmanship put into her practice. Besides her own production and commissions for restaurants and cafés, Lisa has taught hundreds of students over the past years and loves to see students take their first steps, experiment, and play with clay.
This course is right for you if:
We ask that you plan your arrival for Sunday, we have an included pick up from either Palermo Centre (in front of Hotel Politeama) at 1100 or Palermo airport at 1200. On Sunday afternoon (circa 1630, subject to change), you will be welcomed to Salemi by one of our team members who will take you on an orientation walk of the historical centre. This will be followed by a welcome apericena (light dinner) with a Salemi Spritz at one of our favourite local restaurants. We will bid you farewell at the end of your time in Salemi, with an included transfer to either Palermo Airport or Palermo Centre (Piazza Politeama) departing Salemi at 0700 on Saturday morning.
**For pick-ups and drop-offs outside of these times and locations, please contact us for a transfer quote.
This is an intensive learning week! Teaching is primarily group-based with moments of individual feedback built in. Please note this is not one-on-one tuition.
You will be in the studio from Monday 0900 through to approximately 1700 Friday afternoon. Studio time is a combination of teaching and non-teaching time. You can expect a typical day to look like this:
0800 - Yoga in the courtyard (optional)
0900 - 1300 Studio (teaching with a coffee/tea break at 1030 in the courtyard)
1300 - Shared lunch in the courtyard
1400 - 1630 - Free Studio Time - Afternoon studio hours are primarily self-directed practice time, with your teacher available in the studio for guidance
1900 - Dinners are a combination of eating at local restaurants, home restaurants, and in-house at the studio
Our program is carefully designed to balance teaching, practice, meals, and cultural experiences, and we do our best to follow the planned schedule. However, all times and activities are indicative and may shift with the season, the weather, or the needs of the group. Studio sessions, meals, and excursions may be adjusted, rescheduled, or substituted at our discretion. Flexibility is part of the Salemi Ceramics experience, and we believe these small changes often add to the richness of your time with us.
Exact hours may vary depending on ad-hoc adjustments, but you will have a minimum of 6 hours a day in the studio, for a total of 26 hours of teaching and 9 hours of supervised free studio time every week.
During the weekends, the studio will be closed. You will be free to organise your own weekend plans or participate in one of our optional weekend activities.
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We want to make Salemi a recognised centre for contemporary ceramic art. Come and be part of it!
