Published 26 Jun 2025
New Ways with Clay – A Week of Form, Freedom, and Fire
In the quiet hills above Dharamshala, where pine trees hum with wind and light spills gently across stone walls, ten artists gather for something special.
This is New Ways with Clay—a week-long immersive workshop designed not just to teach, but to transform. Guided by celebrated ceramicists Reyaz Badaruddin and Élodie Alexandre, this residency-style retreat offers a rare kind of learning: one rooted in trust, dialogue, and deep attention to material.
What We Explore
Over six days, artists are invited to break routine, loosen their grip, and find new ways into clay. This isn’t about mastering the perfect form—it’s about discovering new possibilities.
The work is tactile, raw, often abstract—but deeply grounded in intention.
You’ll explore
- Slab construction and hand-building
- Sculptural form-making
- Texture, slip, and mark-making
- Surface development through drawing and collage
- Storytelling through clay—form as narrative
Meet the Facilitators
Reyaz Badaruddin: With over two decades of practice, Reyaz is one of India’s most respected contemporary ceramic voices. A Charles Wallace fellow, an alumnus of Cardiff School of Art & Design, and co-founder of Atelier Lālmitti in Andretta, Himachal Pradesh, his work bridges traditional Indian craftsmanship and international ceramic innovation.
His approach to teaching is calm, precise, and profoundly patient. Reyaz emphasizes clarity in construction and encourages artists to slow down—to trust form, weight, and balance.
Élodie Alexandre: Originally from France, Élodie holds a BA and MA in Ceramics from Cardiff School of Art & Design. Her work dances between clay, illustration, storytelling, and personal memory.
Together, Reyaz and Élodie offer something rare: a dual perspective that honors both structure and surrender, technique and instinct, precision and poetry.
Their Studio: Atelier Lālmitti
Founded in the artists’ village of Andretta, Atelier Lālmitti is more than a studio—it’s a living, breathing space for clay-led learning.
Their philosophy? To offer a space where people can slow down and work with intention—not to become production potters, but to become thoughtful makers.
Who This Workshop Is For
- Intermediate or practicing ceramicists
- Sculptors interested in clay
- Artists seeking a more open, intuitive relationship with form
- Makers interested in process-based exploration and personal storytelling
The Workshop Flow
Each day is slow and spacious: Morning + Afternoon Studio Sessions (approx. 4–5 hours/day), guided demonstrations, one-on-one feedback, group conversations, informal walks, shared meals, and plenty of unstructured time to think and make.
Participants work in terracotta, exploring hand-built sculptural forms, surface development, and narrative through texture and image.
What You’ll Leave With
- A deeper relationship to your materials
- New hand-building and surface techniques
- Confidence in sculptural thinking
- A renewed sense of presence in your making
Final Thoughts
“New Ways with Clay” is a space to pause, to play, to push your own edges. It’s a space where clay becomes not just material, but metaphor—something to speak through.
Under Reyaz and Élodie’s generous guidance, you’ll not only learn—you’ll feel changed.
If you’re ready to listen more closely to the material—and to yourself—this may be the beginning of something entirely new.