We’ve finally found a site for the third Turning Earth centre - in Haringey!
Sign up now for ceramics classes and open-access membership:
In December 2021, Turning Earth launched its third major ceramics centre, this time in Tottenham, N22.
The new studio occupies the top floor of a beautiful old saw-toothed factory building within the Crawley Road industrial estate, one of several new creative businesses joining the area, including an excellent new cafe from Bolland & Crust.
Turning Earth provides ceramics classes for complete beginners as well as more experienced makers, and our open-access membership is available for anyone who has completed a 12-week ceramics course (or equivalent) at any studio.
Many aspiring makers dream of using a ceramics studio independently rather than attending classes at set times each week. Like any craft, becoming really proficient takes a lot of practice, and it's important to have the flexibility to put the hours in when you can. At the same time, as soon as you know even a little about ceramics, you see just how much technical knowledge is needed to make even the most simple piece, and it's easy to feel intimidated.
Turning Earth is designed by and for aspiring makers, offering wrap-around support to those starting out. We take the technical worry off our members’ shoulders, carrying out the firing and choosing clay bodies and glazes that we know will work together. All you have to do is make your work and leave it on the designated firing shelf.
Turning Earth members each have their own individual space (a 90cm x 45cm x 45cm shelf) to store their work on, and up to 30 litres of firing included each month (including both bisque and glaze). They work independently and come and go as they please at times that suit them. Although the upper limit on usage is 15 hours a week, most people come for around 4 (which works out at about £10 per hour). We are open 66 hours a week, including from 10am until 10pm Tuesday to Thursday and 10am until 8pm Friday to Sunday.
Open-access membership is the heart and soul of what we do. You don't need years of experience to join. If you have completed any pottery course you can join. If you wish to start without any previous experience we can set you up with private tuition.
Tuesday: 10am – 10pm
Wednesday: 10am – 10pm
Thursday: 10am – 10pm
Friday: 10am-8pm
Saturday: 10am-8pm
Sunday: 10am-8pm
Our standard course length is 12 weeks, although at certain times of the year we also offer 6-week and 8-week introductory courses. Most classes will cover both handbuilding techniques and throwing on the wheel. For those interested in developing a particular skill set, focused handbuilding and throwing courses are also available.
Students on all courses learn a range of techniques before progressing to working on their own projects, with close assistance from our teachers. A 12-week course will give you the grounding you need to attend the studio as an independent open-access member. Those wanting to make rapid progress as a ceramic artist often choose to take a course and open-access membership in tandem, and many take several courses with the same or different instructors to cement their knowledge.
From time to time we also offer more focused classes for those wishing to work on specific techniques, such as tile making or mould making, or firing techniques such as raku and smoke.
Turning Earth classes are all taught by passionate makers who all also make and sell their own work. Many of them have followed the Turning Earth route into a making career - beginning as members in our studios and slowly progressing to selling their work and often opening their own studios. They have all studied and worked on their own practice extensively before training as teachers through the Turning Earth studio system, and shadowed and assisted other instructors before becoming lead teacher in their own classes. All teachers are well-versed in the Turning Earth curriculum, although each will have personalised the course to reflect their own strengths and making styles.
We live in a world where the boundaries between hobbies and careers are blurring, and where it's becoming clearer that creativity in one discipline helps with problem solving in another. Creativity enriches every area of life, for everyone, not just the lucky few who have found their way into careers in art or design. As most jobs are still not as intrinsically creative as the humans who work in them, many people benefit hugely from developing a making practice alongside their career as a way to express themselves.
Turning Earth is committed to empowering these “hobby” makers to take their work as ceramicists as seriously as any professional artist. With the help of the open-access studio it's possible to fit a serious making practice into everyday life and see where it takes you.
It may just make you a happier person. Studies have shown* the numerous mental health benefits of participating in craft, which - because it is both repetitively physical and involves realising concrete objectives - releases the “happy chemicals” of serotonin and dopamine in the brain, just as the prefrontal cortex - the organiser part - is fired up. It’s a virtuous circle, neurologically, and so a lot of people find that making, like meditation, helps restore a sense of presence and mental balance.
Working with clay is, after all, part of our evolutionary history. As hunter gatherers, we’d have spent millenia digging it from riverbanks and shaping it into usable vessels. By following our in-built desire to put our hands in the earth and mould it, we are using our physiology in the way it evolved to be used. Whatever the reason, within Turning Earth we have seen time and time again that following the impulse to make things with clay makes people happier.
* www.craftscouncil.org.uk/stories/4-reasons-craft-good-your-mental-health
Maker-spaces are nothing new; people have been getting together to share equipment and resources for crafting pretty much since time began. Still, the concept of the membership studio, with an access model like a gym where you come and go as you please, has become increasingly current in recent years within major cities. This is probably because pressure on space has made rents for a lot of people unaffordable just as we are collectively awakening to the idea that making things is a satisfying and worthwhile leisure activity, worth doing for love as well as for money.
In the makerspace, people of all abilities and backgrounds practice side by side - from complete beginners to professional artists. Turning Earth members include everyone from Turner Prize winners to the long term unemployed. There’s no coursework to fulfil and no set curriculum, and yet people within our walls progress very rapidly. Makerspaces are great learning hubs because in most cases people are motivated by pure enjoyment, and the energising elements of spontaneity and play are not lost under the weight of externally imposed objectives.
Since launching in 2013, we’ve seen a large number of our open-access makers build successful careers in ceramics, simply because practicing a craft at times that suit you while learning from your peer group along the way is a great way to make progress. And even if you have no desire to go pro, because of the organic way in which people with common interests are brought together, it's a brilliant way to make friends and build community.
Turning Earth launched in 2013 to bring to the UK a model of community ceramics makerspace that had been developing within the US. Turning Earth has since inspired many similar studios, both in this country and around the world and grown to encompass four sites in East London, currently focused in Hoxton and near Lea Bridge station in Leyton.
In the eight years since we first opened our doors, thousands of people have gained access to ceramics, countless people have found their passion and quite a few have turned their passion into work. We are proud to build communities that build strong creative connections between people and across professions.
In the wake of the pandemic, the desire both to participate in crafting and to stay local has become even stronger, and with this in mind we are now focused on bringing more local making opportunities for more people within London.
Turning Earth Tottenham is our first centre in North London.
View of part of the space before work began
Located near Downhills Way, the new building is sandwiched between Turnpike Lane and the big green spaces of Lordship Rec and Downhills Park, and is a pleasant cycle destination from all over the borough (just 12 minutes from Crouch End!)
We're also only a 13 minute walk from Turnpike Lane station on the Piccadilly line, and a quick 6 minute walk from 123, 217, 231 and 444 bus routes.
For many aspiring makers, using a ceramics studio independently rather than attending classes at set times each week is really the dream. Like any craft, becoming really proficient takes a lot of practice, and it's important to have the flexibility to put the hours in when you can. At the same time, as soon as you know even a little about ceramics, you see just how much technical knowledge is needed to make even the most simple piece, and it's easy to feel intimidated.
Turning Earth is designed by and for aspiring makers, offering wrap-around support to those starting out. We take the technical worry off our members’ shoulders, carrying out the firing and choosing clay bodies and glazes that we know will work together. All you have to do is make your work and leave it on the designated firing shelf.
Turning Earth members each have their own individual space (a 90cm x 45cm x 45cm shelf) to store their work on, and up to XXX of firing included each month (including both bisque and glaze). They work independently and come and go as they please at times that suit them. Although the upper limit on usage is 15 hours a week, most people come for around 4 (which works out at about £10 per hour). We are open 66 hours a week, including from 10am until 10pm Tuesday to Thursday and 10am until 8pm Friday to Sunday.
Open-access membership is the heart and soul of what we do. As soon as you complete a 12-week course - or equivalent - with us, or any other ceramics studio, you are eligible to join.
Our standard course length is 12 weeks, although at certain times of the year we also offer 6-week and 8-week introductory courses. Most classes will cover both handbuilding techniques and throwing on the wheel. For those interested in developing a particular skill set, focused handbuilding and throwing courses are also available.
Students on all courses learn a range of techniques before progressing to working on their own projects, with close assistance from our teachers. A 12-week course will give you the grounding you need to attend the studio as an independent open-access member. Those wanting to make rapid progress as a ceramic artist often choose to take a course and open-access membership in tandem, and many take several courses with the same or different instructors to cement their knowledge.
From time to time we also offer more focused classes for those wishing to work on specific techniques, such as tile making or mould making, or firing techniques such as raku and smoke.
Turning Earth classes are all taught by passionate makers who all also make and sell their own work. Many of them have followed the Turning Earth route into a making career - beginning as members in our studios and slowly progressing to selling their work and often opening their own studios. They have all studied and worked on their own practice extensively before training as teachers through the Turning Earth studio system, and shadowed and assisted other instructors before becoming lead teacher in their own classes. All teachers are well-versed in the Turning Earth curriculum, although each will have personalised the course to reflect their own strengths and making styles.
Makerspaces are nothing new; people have been getting together to share equipment and resources for crafting pretty much since time began. Still, the concept of the membership studio, with an access model like a gym where you come and go as you please, has become increasingly current in recent years within major cities. This is probably because pressure on space has made rents for a lot of people unaffordable just as we are collectively awakening to the idea that making things is a satisfying and worthwhile leisure activity, worth doing for love as well as for money.
In the makerspace, people of all abilities and backgrounds practice side by side - from complete beginners to professional artists. Turning Earth members include everyone from Turner Prize winners to the long term unemployed. There’s no coursework to fulfil and no set curriculum, and yet people within our walls progress very rapidly. Makerspaces are great learning hubs because in most cases people are motivated by pure enjoyment, and the energising elements of spontaneity and play are not lost under the weight of externally imposed objectives.
Since launching in 2013, we’ve seen a large number of our open-access makers build successful careers in ceramics, simply because practicing a craft at times that suit you while learning from your peer group along the way is a great way to make progress. And even if you have no desire to go pro, because of the organic way in which people with common interests are brought together, it's a brilliant way to make friends and build community.
Turning Earth launched in 2013 to bring to the UK a model of community ceramics makerspace that had been developing within the US. Turning Earth has since inspired many similar studios, both in this country and around the world and grown to encompass four sites in East London, currently focused in Hoxton and near Lea Bridge station in Leyton.
In the eight years since we first opened our doors, thousands of people have gained access to ceramics, countless people have found their passion and quite a few have turned their passion into work. We are proud to build communities that build strong creative connections between people and across professions.
In the wake of the pandemic, the desire both to participate in crafting and to stay local has become even stronger, and with this in mind we are now focused on bringing more local making opportunities for more people within London.
Turning Earth Haringey is our first centre in North London.
