Tall pots at Duke Studio

On 25 March 2018, Sunken Studio hosted a large-scale clay workshop at The Event Space at Duke Studios, welcoming over 60 participants. It was the largest public workshop we’d run at that point and formed part of the Craft Council’s national Hey Clay! weekend.

The session focused on working with clay at scale, using handbuilding techniques and a deliberately limited set of parameters. Participants were asked to build tall, freestanding structures using as little clay as possible. The aim was to explore how constraint shapes decision-making, material understanding, and collaboration.

Clay has its own pace and logic. It slumps, stretches, resists, and responds to touch in ways that can’t be rushed or overridden. In this session, time was deliberately tight. That pressure revealed a lot - about balance, structure, and how much attention clay demands when working quickly and at scale. Stability, construction, and care mattered as much as height.

Most participants worked in pairs, negotiating decisions as they went. The room filled with quiet problem-solving, improvised supports, and careful adjustments. Some structures stood; others failed. Both outcomes were useful. The intention was always to work closely with the material, to understand its limits, and to learn through direct engagement rather than instruction.

At the end of the session, the work was dismantled and the clay reused where possible. The focus was on process rather than outcome, and on working responsibly with material rather than producing finished pieces.

Hey Clay! was a national initiative led by the Crafts Council as part of the wider Get Creative programme, offering free opportunities for people to work with clay.

The Duke Studios workshop was supported by Leeds Inspired and made possible through the help of volunteers. Photography was by Jo Crawford, with film by Zoe East (Opal Video), both capturing the atmosphere and intent of the day.