About Pottery Embassy
Pottery Embassy is a calm, welcoming clay studio created for people who need creative spaces to feel safe, unhurried, and human.
We believe working with clay can be grounding, regulating, and quietly transformative, especially for people who are neurodivergent, overwhelmed, navigating mental health challenges, or adjusting to major life changes such as postpartum.
Our aim is to offer ceramics experiences that prioritise process over performance, where there is no pressure to be “good,” productive, or perfect. Through small-group workshops, open studio time, and guided programs, we support people to reconnect with their bodies, their creativity, and one another at their own pace.
Pottery Embassy is committed to reducing barriers to participation by designing programs that are sensory-considered, flexible, and accessible. We are working toward developing dedicated offerings for neurodivergent participants, people experiencing depression or anxiety, and caregivers who need gentle, supportive creative time.
At its heart, Pottery Embassy exists to build a kind, inclusive clay community, one where rest, play, and expression are valued, and where making with our hands can be a form of care.
Here is my story
Hello, I’m Yasi. My journey with clay began in the quiet corners of childhood, shaped by the ancient curves of moon jars that once held my grandmother’s rice wine. Those vessels, steeped in memory and ritual, whispered stories of lineage and love, and in their presence, I found my first teachers.
Since then, clay has led me across continents. From the mist-veiled studios of Dublin to the fiery kilns and perfection of Osaka, the vibrant streets of Delhi and Bangalore, the quiet precision of Singapore, the sunlit spaces of California, and the raw, grounding energy of Christchurch, each place has left its rhythm in my hands, shaping not only my craft, but my voice.
In 2015, I rooted myself in Aotearoa. Here, I began weaving my heritage into form, melding ancestral echoes with quiet, contemporary restraint. I built my studio from the ground up in Christchurch and shared my practice through teaching, nurturing others as clay once nurtured me. My studio was once called Botpots Christchurch/Pottery Capital. By November 2024, I handed that space over to a former student and his mother, turning toward a new beginning.
Due to the remote location of St Arnaud, Pottery Embassy currently operates through mobile pottery workshops across the region, bringing clay experiences to communities where access to creative spaces is limited. Alongside this, there is a long-term hope to one day establish a permanent studio.. a welcoming, grounded place where people can gather, make, and feel held by the process of working with clay.
