🏛️ The Basics: Terms & Classes

🗝️ The Upgrades: gold keys & Clay Club

🧼 Studio Rituals & Safety

💳 payments & Cancellations

🤝 Support & Community

  • Our first semester of the year officially kicks off in late April / early May. Once you book your seat, you will receive an orientation email with your specific start date and what to bring for your first night at the wheel.

  • Welcome! The Origin (6-week) or the WHEEL THROWER Form & Function (16-week) are both designed for you. If you want to dip your toes in, go for 6 weeks. If you know you’re ready to truly learn the alchemy of clay from the ground up, the 16-week Form & Function is our signature deep-dive.

  • Pottery is gloriously messy. Wear comfortable clothes you don't mind getting "dusty" (clay washes out!). Short nails are your best friend at the wheel, and please bring an old towel for your lap.

  • This is our most exclusive offering for the obsessed maker. It upgrades your 16-week Mastery class to include a private key fob for 4 months of independent studio access during "Sanctuary Hours" (6am–11pm), 7 days a week. It includes dedicated shelf space, a premium clay, glaze, firing allowance.

  • For safety and soul-rest, our Sanctuary Hours are 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM. (Or A/H by arrangement) This gives you the freedom to create early in the morning or late into the evening, while ensuring the studio has time to "breathe" overnight.

  • If you don't need a private key but want extra practice, the Clay Club is for you. It’s a 10-session punch card (3 hours per session) used during our supervised "Open Lab" hours. It saves you $300 compared to our casual $95 session rate.

  • If there are still Gold Keys available, yes! However, we only release 10 Keys per semester to ensure the studio never feels crowded. We recommend securing yours at checkout to avoid missing out.

  • To keep our sanctuary beautiful, every resident is responsible for their "Full Circle." This means leaving your wheel, tools, and floor area spotless. We allocate the last 15 minutes of every session to this ritual.

  • Silica dust is a health hazard, so we are a "Wet-Clean Only" studio. No sweeping, dry sanding or brushing! We use wet sponges, mops and buckets of water to keep the dust down and the air pure for everyone.

  • We are currently "rebooting" after a massive year! Without the support of our studio community & Whānau, we wouldn’t be here today. You can help by booking a class, sharing our new website (Ceramysterium.nz)‍ contributing via our Donations page.

  • We are also looking for Studio Technicians, Teachers, Interns and Apprentices - apply via the "Join the Crew" link on our homepage! Please also check out notes about our exchange program below.

  • we love our community, but to keep the sanctuary running smoothly and protect our teaching time, we approach helping hands in two very specific ways:

    1. studio Intern/apprenticeships: if you are looking for deep mentorship, skill-building, and studio access, keep an eye out for our structured 16-week apprenticeships. these require a set weekly commitment and are application-only.

    2. the sanctuary keepers (ad-hoc): if you just have random pockets of time and want to help with the unglamorous grunt work (cleaning, sweeping, washing buckets) in exchange for studio karma and occasional firing credits, we would love your help! email us to be added to the sanctuary keepers call list.

    🌿 the pathway: a note on our kaupapa

    please note: all of our exchange, intern, apprentice, and village roles serve as the natural gateway to our teacher training program and future paid positions. our sanctuary thrives on energetic alignment. we believe in growing our team from within, and starting in one of these roles allows us to ensure a beautiful, authentic fit for both our team and our kaupapa before moving into a formal staff role.

  • Yes! For our 16-week semesters and Gold Key Residency, we offer monthly installment plans. Please note that our special "Resurrection" discount rates are only available for Paid in Full bookings to help fund our reopening. Email studio@karlamarie.nz for your pay plan link.

  • Because we are a small studio with limited seats, we cannot offer refunds once a term has started. If you need to cancel at least 14 days before the term begins, we can offer a studio credit for a future class.