Benedetta, Hannah, and Yuval from vuur collective walked us through making ceramic glazes from regional waste — reconnecting with materials at the end of their life cycle. We explored what happens when you glaze with what’s already here: ashes from the pizza oven from the pizzeria around the corner, iron from the street, treated asbestos, and rust from Amsterdam bikes. The result? Alchemic, and circular surfaces on clay.

Ceramic glazes are essentially a kind of glass. In industry, they are often produced with mined raw materials that could be highly toxic to both people and the environment. vuur collective explores a different, more circular path. In this workshop, we experimented with ashes, stones, and other remnants from our surroundings to create safe and unexpected surfaces on clay. By working with what was already there, we discovered new ways of glazing that were grounded, imaginative, and circular.