The next Clay Hole

Put your zip code on our map.

Right now there is one Clay Hole, and it is in Draper, Utah. One day we would like one in a lot more places. Across the country, and maybe into Canada. Where the next one goes depends on where people ask for it, and asking takes about twenty seconds.

Put me on the map See what the fuss is about
Illustration of two potters in a pottery studio planning new Clay Hole locations on a map of the United States, one holding small pots and one sketching a floor plan

How this works

The zip codes pick the city.

Every zip code that lands here gets counted. When enough of them stack up in one place, that place moves up the list. It is how we decide where a studio this size should go.

  1. 1Leave a name, an email and a zip code. That is the whole form. Canadian postal codes count too.
  2. 2Send this page to people near you. Ten zip codes from one town say a lot more than one.
  3. 3Wait for real news. If a Clay Hole opens near you, the people on this list hear first.

What to expect

There is no date, no city picked and no promise. This could be a long wait, and we will not email you in the meantime. No newsletter, no sales emails, nothing in between. One email, if and when there is something real to say.

Tell us where you are

Add your zip code.

Where you live

We will only use this to tell you if we open near you. Nothing else.

Why people ask for one

It is not a pottery class. It is where people find their people.

The Clay Hole was built with two goals. The first was the most extraordinary community pottery studio we could make. The second matters more: a place where anyone can turn up and find new friends, a second family, or (dare we say it) love.

Community is hard to find now. Real friendships take hundreds of hours with someone, and most people have nowhere those hours happen on their own. A studio you come back to every week turns strangers into familiar faces. Then familiar faces into your people.

The pottery is extraordinary. The people are the reason it works.

The size of it

Loaded is an understatement.

The studio in Draper, Utah runs nearly 10,000 square feet. This is what is inside it right now.

29

pottery wheels

650+

commercial glazes

150+

underglazes

248

slab molds and forms

4

instructors on the floor at every class

4

kilns

7

days a week the studio runs

Thousands

of pottery tools

What membership comes with

Most studios are a room with wheels. This one is a lot more than that.

Instruction

Four instructors, not one at the front

Open studio classes. You make whatever you want, and instructors circulate teaching you at your pace, on the thing in your hands right now. No curriculum, no grades, no falling behind.

Glazes

Enough glazes to lose an evening choosing

650+ commercial glazes, 150+ underglazes, and seven dipping glazes for people who would rather not brush. Glazes fire to cone 5½.

Slab molds

248 slab molds and forms

From Green Level slab molds up to giant, complex Black Level ones. The Mold Room lists every one with what it makes, how much clay to start with and how thick to roll the slab.

Tools

Thousands of tools, sorted by color

Every tool, glaze and slab mold carries a color mark. Your level’s color and every color below it is yours to use. Nobody has to ask permission or look anything up.

Equipment

The big machines are open to everyone

All 29 wheels, the worktables, the slab rollers and the kilns, at every level. Extruders come in as you move up.

Your spot

Shelf space of your own

Work in progress needs somewhere to wait between visits, and every member gets a spot for it. The shelf gets bigger as the level goes up.

Flexibility

No assigned night

Same night every week, a different night every time, mornings one month and evenings the next. Classes never expire while you are a member, and a closure moves your class rather than taking it.

The living room

Somewhere to sit when the pot is drying

Game tables, dozens of games, lounge areas, big leather sofas and drink fridges. People stay after the clay is put away, which is rather the point.

Workshops

Raku nights and more

Optional workshops, first dibs on the non-pottery art workshops, and nighttime raku workshops for members who have earned the certification. Raku is paid for separately.

What it does not include

Clay and firings are paid for separately. Here in Draper, glaze firing runs 5 cents a cubic inch with a $4.80 minimum, and memberships run $145 to $275 a month. There are no one-night classes and no drop-ins, because a single pot takes weeks and a friendship takes longer. How much of the studio you can reach depends on your level, and the cheapest level shows you a fraction of it.

The part nobody expects

A room full of people at every skill level, all making something different.

A total beginner and a potter of fifteen years sit at the same table, and both get what they came for. Because nobody is making the same mug, the room runs on inspiration instead of comparison.

After a few weeks it stops being a room you attend. It becomes a place you go.

  • Loud tables and quiet ones. On a typical evening 30 to 50 people are spread across the studio. Some tables joke and share snacks all night. Some barely look up. Both are completely normal.
  • Nervous is normal. Sit and work on your own, or sit surrounded by people and talk all night. Nobody thinks twice if it takes a few weeks to warm up.
  • People help each other. Constantly. That simply does not happen in a room where everyone faces the front.
  • Everyone is welcome, in every class. Pottery draws a lot of neurodivergent people, and this room is full of them.
  • The rules get enforced. People who make the room worse for everyone else are asked to leave. That is a big part of why the room is good.

And things happen here that are not pottery.

Game nights and parties

The lounge exists for a reason.

Pottery contests

Themed contests that run through the year.

Bring a Friend Weeks

Whole weeks where members bring friends in free.

Show & Tell

Class photos and finished work, posted for everyone to see. Look at it.

Featured members

Members get their own page on the site. Meet a few.

A studio dog

He has his own corner and his own page. Meet Mud.

Stay, and it keeps paying you back

Every month you stay, something comes back.

Every member gets a rewards card on day one. Nothing to sign up for, and it quietly gets more generous the longer you are around.

  1. 2 months

    A free firing

  2. 4 months

    A free bag of clay

  3. 6 months

    A free Bring a Friend pass

  4. 9 months

    A free Clay Hole t-shirt

  5. 12 months

    A free month

  6. 18 months

    Two free firings every month, for life

  7. 2 years

    Three bigger free firings every month, for life

  8. 3 years

    A free bag of clay every month, for life

  9. In between

    More free firings, most months

Nobody has reached the top rungs yet. The studio opened in March 2025, so the two and three year rewards are real and still ahead of everybody. Cancel and the card starts over. The whole program, written out.

Try a piece of it tonight

You can use a lot of The Clay Hole from wherever you live.

Most studios have a website. This one has a free pottery school, a glaze reference for every jar on the wall and a stack of tools members use every week. Most of it is open to anyone.

Free, for anyone The Clay Hole University 202 pottery lessons and 1,491 quiz questions, laid out in the order a pot actually gets made. It quizzes you and keeps score. Start learning Glazes The Glaze Bible Every glaze and underglaze on the wall gets its own page, with real fired test tiles. Open it Glazes The Mega Glaze Tool Filter the whole collection, see real test tile photos and build a list of the ones you want to try. Filter glazes Glazes The Glaze Finder Search the glaze wall and find the jar, with a few surprises hidden in it for the curious. Find a glaze Slab molds The Mold Room Every slab mold in the building, paired with what it makes, how much clay to start with and how thick to roll it. Browse slab molds The studio The 360 Virtual Tour Walk all seventeen stops of the studio from your couch, from the wheels to the kilns. Take the tour Tools Pottery Calculators Shrinkage, clay weight, firing cost, drying time and more, worked out before the clay is even wet. Run the numbers For the soul Daily Affirmation Cards Nobody picks their own card. One is waiting for you every day. Draw a card For the rest of it Scream It Into the Void For the day a pot collapses on the wheel. Scream literally anything into it and watch it disappear. Scream a little

Where The Clay Hole is

What we can tell you now.

Is there a Clay Hole in my city?

Only if you live near Draper, Utah. That is the one Clay Hole right now, and there is no second location yet. The list on this page is how the next one gets picked, so the fastest way to get one in your city is to add your zip code to it.

Is The Clay Hole opening more locations?

We want to, across the United States and maybe into Canada. No date is set and no city is picked. First we find out where people actually want one, and this page is where that happens.

When will a new Clay Hole open?

There is no date yet. Expanding a studio this size is a big, slow project, and this list is how it starts: finding out where the demand really is before anything gets built.

Which city gets the next one?

The one the numbers point at. Every zip code on this list is counted, and the places with the most people asking move up. That is the whole system. No city has been picked.

Is there a Clay Hole in Canada?

Not yet. Canada is on the table, though. Pick Canada on the form and use your postal code, and it gets counted exactly like a zip code does.

What happens to my details?

Your name, email and zip code go into our own list for this and nothing else. They do not go into our newsletter, and nobody else gets them. You hear from us if a Clay Hole opens near you, and that is it.

How do I move my city up the list?

More zip codes from it. Send this page to friends, coworkers, the person who keeps saying they want to try pottery. A town with fifty names on the list looks very different from a town with one.

What if I already live in Utah?

Then the studio already exists near you. It is in Draper, and memberships start at $145 a month. See the memberships.

One more thing

The map is waiting on your zip code.

Twenty seconds, three boxes, and your town gets counted. Then send this page to the people you would want at the table next to you.

Put me on the map