Following Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, in the summer, the informal workshop series at Sophiensæle now turns to ceramics. Participants shape their own vases from clay and then decorate them with engobes, a coloured clay slip. Along the way, they learn basic hand-building techniques and experience how a lump of clay gradually becomes a vessel of their own. The workshop is led by artists from Bündnis Feuer und Flamme, a ceramics collective based in Kreuzberg.

Drawing on the history of Sophiensæle as the former clubhouse of the Berlin Craftsmen’s Association, the series brings together craft and artistic practice. The vase picks up on the flowers of the anniversary year and the ikebana workshop. It also speaks of the ruptures and continuities that have accompanied our engagement with the building’s history. Working together, we explore attentiveness, material and the possibility of trying out other rhythms and ways of being together.

All materials are provided. After the workshop, the vases will be fired and glazed in the collective’s studio and can then be picked up at Sophiensæle.