The Clay Studio — Local services in Philadelphia

I went here for date night with my husband and had a wonderful experience. The couples date night class also provides light drinks and refreshments which was so cute and thoughtful! You check in with the front desk on the first floor in the gallery shop. They print out a sticker name tag with your picture on it that you submit on a machine or via QR code on your form. Then you go to the 4th floor where you can relax before class starts. Have some delicious cheese and crackers! There was wine, beers, and sparkling waters for beverages. The facilities are clean and cozy and the building is beautiful!

There is a coat closet that you can hang your jackets in before starting the class. Remember to wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty because trust me, some clay will get on you! Especially your legs. I also recommend short sleeves since I got clay up to my elbows somehow. Aprons are provided along with all tools you will need for throwing and decorating your piece. The instructors were very friendly and quickly went through the directions. You have about 1h 15 min to throw as many pieces as you want, then the remaining time to decorate. As a complete beginner, I struggled a bit with throwing shaping my bowl and the instructors helped me to perfectly shape my bowl. Their guidance was very comforting, knowing I wouldn’t leave with a monstrosity.

At the end, you can pick your favorite to decorate with paint or chisel in some designs. They will glaze and finish off the pottery for pick up in 2-4 weeks so remember to pick them up. I can’t wait to see my final piece! I highly recommend the clay studio for a quality experience learning pottery. They have many date nights throughout the year and it is worth every penny. Please check them out!

Update: picked up my final piece! They packaged it with care and I brought it home with me in a bag and it was wrapped in paper. I do wish they would glaze the bottom of the piece too since I would like it to be smooth all around. I’m scared it could scratch my counter. I tried my best to paint it white but I guess it’s much harder than it looks - it was very splotchy in some spots. I’ve used it for its purpose (matcha bowl) and it worked perfectly! Definitely a great experience I would...

We had a great time via the v-day pottery session. The staff was friendly ,the food was great, and they even had the Super Bowl game streaming for us. My only suggestions is for there to be a printout of the steps. At the beginning there is a demonstration, however a more inclusive approach would be to have laminated step by step instructions (5-10 steps) with pictures. Adults who are on the spectrum, or have ADHD, anxiety , short term memory etc may have a hard time following. Though the staff are there to help it can be overwhelming to keep asking for help for the next step. Also I don’t recall an option to request for accommodation, even this can be overwhelming to ask . Many of the other couples felt this idea would also be helpful as they also forgot the steps as time was ticking. So hopefully this friendly suggestion is included for future workshops / date nights so everyone’s learning style can be considered during the allotted time frame, and the “fun” aspect of the activity can commence. Overall we did have fun, though initially a lot of time was wasted trying to recall from memory what the steps were. We are aware they have classes to purchase for extended lessons, which is nice, but during the actual date night it would have been an efficient use of time to have a print out, or a short tutorial video streaming on one of the screens replaying the steps ( or even a short TikTok !) We would be more inclined to purchase more classes if future events are more accommodating and inclusive of all learning abilities for date nights/single event workshops. We would hate to waste time and money. Overall good time , but not an efficient use of time...

Good morning, as a current art student at community college of philadelphia I instantly reward this studio an incredible five stars because it's a awesome place for anyone who has a great interest in presenting their own creativity to the public and everyone here is very friendly, helpful and pleasant to talk to. I visited the clay studio this past Saturday with my ceramics 2 class and already I was enjoying the walk through tour within the studio and anyone can actually touch any ceramic artwork only in building 137 but not building 139, it was cool and my professor showed us her studio on the fourth floor if I'm correct art her artwork was very cool, to me they actually appeared to be a combination of both a tree and a star amazing metaphorically speaking. The owners are also very friendly and helpful and there was a brief lecture that took place there about the masterpieces, that was awesome as well and on my way out, I donated a dollar as my way of helping the studio remain strong and creative it made me feel good the rest of my way home and hopefully, I visit again really soon because the experience itself was indeed remarkable and my professor and class are...