Here is my story

Hello, I’m Yasmin.

Before pottery became the centre of my life, I actually imagined myself on a very different path. I wanted to become a forensic anthropologist, which led me to study pre-med and anthropology. I was fascinated by people, history, the human body, and the stories that can be uncovered through what we leave behind.

But through all of it, pottery and the arts were always calling me back.

My relationship with clay began much earlier, in the quiet corners of childhood, shaped by the ancient curves of moon jars that once held my grandmother’s rice wine. Those vessels were more than functional objects. They carried memory, ritual, family and history. Looking back, they were some of my earliest teachers and perhaps the beginning of a path I didn’t yet know I would follow. Eventually, I realised that although science and anthropology fascinated me, creating with my hands was where I felt most at home. Clay brought together so many of the things I loved history, culture, form, human touch and the stories held within everyday objects.

Since then, clay has taken me across continents. From the mist-veiled studios of Dublin, to the fiery kilns and precision of Osaka, the vibrant energy of Delhi and Bangalore, the quiet rhythm of Singapore, the sunlit spaces of California, and eventually the grounding energy of Christchurch, each place has left an imprint on my hands.

Every studio, teacher, culture and community has shaped not only the way I work with clay, but also the way I teach and think about pottery.

In 2015, I made Aotearoa home. Here, I began weaving my heritage and experiences into my work, blending ancestral influences with simple, contemporary forms. I built my pottery studio from the ground up in Christchurch, where I taught classes, ran community workshops and shared my love of clay with others.

That studio was formerly known as Botpots Christchurch / Pottery Capital. Teaching became as meaningful to me as making. There is something incredibly rewarding about watching someone arrive convinced that they are “not creative,” then seeing their confidence grow as a lump of clay slowly becomes something made entirely by their own hands.

In November 2024, I handed my Christchurch studio over to a former student and his mother, making space for a new chapter in my own pottery journey.

Pottery Embassy was born from that next chapter. While living in St Arnaud, the remote location meant that establishing a traditional studio wasn’t immediately possible. Instead, Pottery Embassy began as a mobile pottery studio, travelling throughout the region and bringing pottery workshops into communities where access to creative spaces and ceramics could otherwise be limited.

It taught me that a pottery studio doesn't necessarily begin with four walls. It begins when people gather around a table, put their hands into clay and make something together.

Then, after a lot of searching, planning and dreaming, Pottery Embassy finally found a permanent home. As of 1 July 2026, Pottery Embassy Studio is based in Blenheim, at Shop 11/1 Market Street, in the same building as Osaka Tamariki.

Having a permanent studio marks the beginning of something I have wanted to create for a very long time: a welcoming, grounded and approachable pottery space where people can gather, slow down and reconnect with making things by hand.

You don't need to consider yourself an artist to walk through the door.

You don't need previous pottery experience.

You don't need to make something perfect.

For me, pottery has never really been about perfection. It is about touch, curiosity, patience, culture, connection and allowing the material to have a voice of its own.

Life took me from wanting to study the stories held within human remains to discovering that I wanted to create objects that might one day hold stories of their own. In many ways, perhaps those two paths were never as different as they first appeared.

Welcome to Pottery Embassy. Come in, get your hands into some clay, and make something that carries a little piece of your own story.