“Teaching here starts not at the wheel but with the question of what clay actually is — material history from ten years of field research with master potters on three continents.”
Elizaveta Barsega spent over ten years learning where ceramics is not a course but daily life: with master potters in Morocco and the Rif Mountains, in Northern Thailand, in Georgia — ethnographic material research as an education. In the studio and gallery on Andreasstraße this becomes a specialty you will hardly find elsewhere in Berlin: bespoke glazes made from local minerals, wood ash and lava sands.
The pedagogy reverses the usual order: first the history and science of the material, then the wheel. Multi-week design courses build on theory first; the teaching team carries academic weight — Viviane Tabach teaches seasonally at UdK Berlin and is a specialist in clay marbling, Juliane Wallau brings seven years of sculptural practice.
One unusual access path stands out: complete one of the studio’s online courses and you receive a free month of physical studio membership — a bridge from screen to workbench. Less pleasing is the data situation on hours and prices: they are largely unpublished, and we are filling them in through conversation.
Course · 4 sessions · 12 hrs total · €295 · Materials included · Intermediate
Masterclass · 1 session · 3 hrs total · €85 · Materials included · Open to all levels
Understand the material first, then use your hands: the history and science of clay come before the wheel — knowing what a glaze is made of changes how you see ceramics.
