A pottery studio on Rua de Cedofeita, Porto

Comewithcleanhands.Leavewithsomethingyoumade.

Bettencourt is a working ceramics studio with twelve wheels, two kilns and one long table where everything gets talked about. We teach beginners on weekday evenings, keep the doors open for members the rest of the time, and fire the lot on Fridays.

See the courses
Clay-covered hands centring a lump of stoneware on a spinning wheel
Shelves of unglazed bowls and cups drying in a sunlit studio

How it starts

Ataster,thenaterm,andthenthestudioisyours.

Almost everyone at the long table began with one clumsy evening. There is no application, no portfolio and nothing to prove. You need a Tuesday, an apron, and a willingness to make something lopsided.

Book a taster evening
  1. 01

    A taster evening

    Three hours on a wheel with six other beginners and one teacher. You will make two or three pieces, keep the best, and collect it glazed a fortnight later.

    3 hours, €45

  2. 02

    A term of ten

    The same evening, the same wheel, the same teacher for ten weeks. By week six most people centre without thinking about it; by week ten they have a set of something.

    10 weeks, one evening a week

  3. 03

    A shelf of your own

    Membership means open studio hours, a shelf with your name on it and space in the Friday kiln. Nearly every member came through a term first.

    Monthly, cancel any time

A wide view of the studio at evening, twelve wheels in two rows and people working at each

Stories

Nobodyarrivedgoodatthis.

Two people who came for one evening and stayed. We asked them to write it down rather than say it, so the words are theirs.

More from the table
A woman at the wheel looking down at a finished bowl, studio light from a high window

The bowl that took eleven weeks

I signed up for the taster because a friend cancelled on me and I had the evening free. Ten weeks later I had one bowl I was proud of and nine I was not. The nine were the point. I have a shelf now, and the bowl is the one I eat from.

Beth Gibbons

Two terms, then a membership

Read the full story
A man holding a hand-built cup up to the window to check its rim

Learning to leave a cup alone

I work with screens all week and wanted something I could not undo with a keystroke. Handbuilding taught me to stop fiddling. When the cup is done, it is done, and the kiln decides the rest. That has been useful outside the studio too.

Devendra Banhart

Handbuilding, Saturday mornings

Read the full story

Membership

Dropinwhenyoucan,ortakeashelffortheyear.

A year costs ten months.

Evenings

€65per month

Studio access Monday to Thursday, six until ten.

  • A wheel whenever one is free
  • Clay at cost, firing included
  • Half a shelf
Choose evenings

Full studio

€110per month

Every open hour, seven days, and first call on the Friday kiln.

  • Open hours, all week
  • A full shelf with your name on it
  • Priority kiln space
  • A guest wheel once a month
Choose full studio

Kiln only

€30per month

For potters with their own wheel who need a kiln and some company.

  • Bisque and glaze firing, by the shelf
  • Glaze room access
  • The long table on Fridays
Choose kiln only

Kiln days

ThekilnopensonFridays.Afewtimesayear,sodoesthestudio.

Firings are the only fixed dates we keep. Everything else here is a gathering around one: a raku on the roof, a sale of what came out, a trip to a wood kiln in the hills.

All dates this season
  1. 11Oct

    Raku on the roof

    Glaze in the afternoon, fire at dusk, pull the pieces out glowing and drop them in sawdust. Loud, quick and unlike anything else we do.

    Rua de Cedofeita 220, roof6 places left
    Reserve a place
  2. 25Oct

    Open studio and sale

    Members' work on the long table, mugs from twelve euros, the wheels free to try. Coffee all day and something warmer after five.

    The studioNo booking needed
    Reserve a place
  3. 15Nov

    Wood firing at Sobrado

    Thirty-six hours feeding a wood kiln in the hills north of the city, in shifts, with soup. Bring pieces that can take it.

    Sobrado, ValongoWaiting list
    Reserve a place
  4. 13Dec

    The last kiln of the year

    Everything that is dry goes in. We unload together the following Friday and eat at the table while it is still warm.

    The studio9 places left
    Reserve a place

Two ways to begin

Bookataster,orcomeandlookattheshelvesfirst.

A row of aprons on hooks beside the studio door, wheels visible beyond

Book a taster evening

Tuesdays and Thursdays, seven until ten. Six places on each, and they go a fortnight ahead. Everything is provided, including the apron.

Choose an evening

Visit on a Saturday

The studio is open ten until two. Walk in, pick things up, and ask whoever is at the wheel nearest the door. Nobody will try to sell you a course.

Ask a question first