● Bristol, since 2014
·
18 Kiln Yard
Four rooms, working makers, and a kettle that is usually on.
OUR STORY
It started with
one wheel.
From a borrowed railway arch to four rooms, a dye garden and a kiln that rarely gets a night off.
Handsel began in 2014 with one pottery wheel in a shared railway arch. The printmakers came next, then a weaver who planted a dye garden, and finally a jeweller who needed a bench by the window.
● Founder
Since 2014
Friends asked to try the wheel, then their friends did. Within a year the waiting list was longer than the room.
Mara Ellison
Founder and head of ceramics
Small groups, real tools and enough time to make something you are proud of.
OUR STORY SO FAR
How four crafts
found one home.
2014
One wheel
A borrowed railway arch, one second-hand wheel and a kettle.
2016
The print room
A Columbian press arrives on a pallet and needs six people to lift.
2019
The dye garden
Ada plants madder, weld and woad. The indigo vat is still alive.
2021
Jewellery bench
Peter joins with six benches and a very calm voice.
Today
Four rooms
Twelve classes a week, an open studio and a kiln that rarely rests.
THE ROOMS
Four rooms, one roof.
Each craft has its own room, its own tools and its own tutor. Most students end up trying a second one.
HOW WE TEACH
Three things we
hold on to.
THE TUTORS
The people
at the bench.
Four tutors, one for each craft. Ask them anything; they love talking shop.
Ceramics
Mara Ellison
Head of ceramics
Printmaking
Tomas Reyes
Printmaker
Textiles
Ada Okafor
Dyer and weaver
Jewellery
Peter Lund
Silversmith
In their own words.
4.9 average from 320 student reviews
I came in thinking I wasn’t creative. Six weeks later I had made a full set of bowls for my own kitchen.
Priya Nair
Wheel Throwing II · a set of four bowls
The best Saturday I have had in years. Phones away, hands inky, tea on the bench.
Tom Becker
Introduction to Linocut · two-colour print
At sixty I finally learned to weave. Ada made every single row feel possible.
Margaret Ellis
Frame Loom Weaving · wall hanging
Peter is the calmest teacher I have met. I wear the ring I made every day.
Daniel Kim
Silver Ring Making · hammered band
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