Raku Ceramics Workshop

Raku ceramics workshop across two extraordinary days with Maria João Cravo of Pássaro de Seda, a two-part immersive experience that begins in the studio in Aveiro on 6 June and culminates in the raku firing at Yola Vale’s studio in Sobreira Formosa on 14 June. There are processes that teach you control. Raku teaches precisely the opposite: to accept the unexpected, to find beauty in chance and to trust transformation through fire. This workshop is an invitation to live the ceramic process intensely and collectively, between clay, silence, surprise and the singular marks that only fire and smoke can leave. For participants with some ceramic experience. Minimum six and maximum ten participants. Three pieces per person, maximum 20 centimetres.

The first day, 6 June from 9:30 to 18:00 at Pássaro de Seda studio in Aveiro, is dedicated entirely to creating. Each participant explores forms, textures and gestures, hand-building their pieces in an atmosphere of sharing, presence and creative experimentation. After drying and the first firing, the second day arrives: 14 June at Yola Vale’s studio in Sobreira Formosa, where the raku firing takes place. Pieces are removed from the kiln while still glowing and placed in containers with organic materials, creating unique reactions, crackled surfaces, metallic marks and finishes that cannot be planned or repeated. No two pieces are alike. Each one carries the memory of the fire and the moment it was made. There is no formal lunch break on either day and participants are warmly invited to bring something to share, because these gatherings are also made of conversation, shared table and time lived in community.

What you’ll experience

🔥 A full day of hand-building ceramic pieces in clay at Pássaro de Seda studio in Aveiro

🔥 The ancestral Japanese raku firing technique at Yola Vale’s studio in Sobreira Formosa

🔥 Pieces removed from the kiln while glowing and placed in organic materials for unique reactions

🔥 Crackled surfaces, metallic marks and finishes that fire and smoke create and no two pieces share

🔥 An immersive and collective creative experience built around clay, fire, silence and community

What’s included

🪴 All clay materials and tools for the hand-building day

🪴 Bisque firing after the first session

🪴 Full raku firing on 14 June at Yola Vale’s studio

🪴 Three raku-fired ceramic pieces to take home, maximum 20 centimetres each

🪴 Full guidance from Maria João Cravo throughout both days

What you leave with

Three ceramic pieces marked by fire in ways that could never have been designed or predicted, and the experience of having made them across two days of genuine creative immersion and community.

I am Maria João Cravo, the ceramic artist behind Pássaro de Seda. After 21 years of teaching through words, I found in clay a new language, one written with the hands and the whole body. Since 1999 ceramics has been the thread running through a life dedicated to creation. Each piece is made without moulds, guided by instinct and time, where imperfection is celebrated as part of the beauty. The atelier is the heart of Pássaro de Seda, a space where time extends and matter takes form. More than a place of production it is a creative refuge, a nest where experimentation, contemplation and sharing meet.

Dates: 6 June at Pássaro de Seda studio, Aveiro, and 14 June at Yola Vale studio, Sobreira Formosa. Both days 9:30 to 18:00. Participants with some ceramic experience. Minimum 6 and maximum 10 participants. No formal lunch break, bring something to share.