Hey Clay will be a new pottery studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn - located at 420 Carroll St - offering classes, memberships and workshops for all. We are currently on track to open in Spring-Summer 2025!

Hey Clay's unique offerings 

• A Foundations course will be offered for beginners, at the conclusion of which graduates will become eligible for a membership
• Memberships will be based on amount of time desired to be spent at the studio rather than potter tenure (think of it like a gym membership!)
• Workshops offered will facilitate technical up-skilling and expansion of pottery knowledge

Hey Clay's foundational principles

• Shared resources: At Hey Clay, all resources -workstations, equipment, materials, tools, aprons, shelf spaces - will belong to everyone. This is rooted in the belief that sharing and caring for our mutual resources is a way of bringing people together, generating empathy and generally being good neighbors.
• Celebrate the process: Hey Clay believes that the process of making pottery is the great unifier. Regardless of our abilities and tenure, we all have to go through the same process of creation, which is rich in joy and in pain, and which teaches us patience, focus and presence. Focusing on the process (versus the product) also enables creating a nurturing environment in which folks can be vulnerable especially as they are just starting out.
• Artist centricity: Hey Clay will exist to serve its patrons, the patrons who walk through its doors to bring their creative vision to life or those who enter it as staff. It will amplify the art, creativity and brilliance of all who choose to make Hey Clay its creative home. At Hey Clay, we strongly believe that it is not about the physical space, but about the people who activate that space.
• Learning and knowledge sharing: Hey Clay recognizes that learning and inspiration can come from many places. At Hey Clay, we want to embrace an open spirit of learning and knowledge sharing. In practice this means being receptive to learning from our peers, technicians, front desk staff in addition to instructors and seasoned artists. It also means generously sharing one's knowledge to make for a more vibrant, artistic community.
• Fun and warmth: Hey Clay, as a community studio, aims to provide a no-judgement environment and to be a third space for all. Whether one approaches pottery in community with others, or as a solo journey, the studio will facilitate all creative journeys in a welcoming and inclusive way.

The space: 420 Carroll st

We have signed a lease for a ~1,500 sqft ground floor retail unit at 420 Carroll St. The unit has 22 ft windows and lots of natural lighting. It has an open plan layout, further enabling the community feels. Here are some photos of work in progress!

  The hearts and souls behind Hey Clay

Fundraising

Pottery studios require a lot of capital to set up. Our initial equipment list includes 25 wheels (25 lbs and 100 lbs throwing capacity), 3 kilns, 1 pug mill, slab roller, an extruder and an extensive shelving system. In order to meet our funding needs comfortably, we are turning to our community to help us bridge a gap of $45,000 to put towards this essential infrastructure. Crowdfunding this gap made sense for us - it is an opportunity for us to share with people what we have been up to, why we are doing this and what they can look forward to. We hope that this campaign will reach a diversity of folks who are interested in seeing a new pottery studio come to life in Gowanus!

How did the idea of Hey Clay arise?

I thought of Hey Clay as a response to my own experience of finding it difficult to access pottery in New York. When things were beginning to open up post-COVID in 2021, I decided I wanted to reconnect with pottery as a hobby. Like so many of us, I wanted to experience life in community with others after a long duration of isolation. I also wanted to do something tactile with my hands and utilize pottery as a way of advancing my mindfulness journey. I began to look at studios around me and found that classes were always sold out and memberships had very long waitlists, sometimes up to a year! I expanded my radius of search, and came up with the same thing.

I started talking to new and seasoned potters and learned very quickly that there is first, a capacity issue: not enough supply of seats in studios to accommodate the demand. But I also learned that classes and membership offerings are designed in a way that doesn't allow new demand (i.e those newly entering the pottery world) to be serviced. Because memberships were always full, folks who are eligible for memberships continue to take classes, and because classes favor prior students, only a few spots open up to the broader public which fill up very quickly.

I also heard from potters that the current semester-based class structure is rigid and inflexible. My own experience confirmed this. I had to commit to a 12 week course, for the same time and day every week. Missed classes were difficult to make up. And having paid for 3 months in advance also meant being riddled with guilt for not being able to show up. Yikes.

I am an amateur potter and the idea for Hey Clay largely stemmed from wanting to solve some of the problems I experienced in my own journey in breaking into the pottery world in the city. I don't claim there is a better way of running a studio but I do believe there is a different way.

Featured artists and friends of Hey Clay

Staying true to our values of artist-centricity, we are thrilled to include 3 brilliant Brooklyn based artists in this campaign, all who have generously offered their work as a part of the rewards list. 

Risks involved

Pottery studios have been around for a long time and have a business model that has sustained. I see an opportunity in refreshing the business model to stay current with how folks want to engage with their places of interest i.e. make these studios broadly more accessible, flexible in its offerings and inclusive in culture. Trying something new always comes with a risk and I am hoping that with the artist-centric mindset, we will be able to land on studio programming that better serves the needs of the modern potter. Other risks are related to timing of the project. There is always the possibility of delays due to construction timelines, equipment delivery, etc. and we are hoping to alleviate this by careful operational planning with all partners involved. 

THANK YOU!

Thank you for getting this far! If this project resonates with you, please consider contributing either with or without a reward. You can also help spread the word by sharing with family and friends. Or, as I have said before, just send us some good vibes :D