01-07 / 09-07 | Instructor: Armin Skirde | € 1120

Starts in the evening July 1 until the morning of July 9, 2026.

The Ceramic Course is priced at €1120. To secure your spot, a €200 advance payment is required upon registration. You have the option to settle the remaining balance up to two weeks before the course commencement, or you can also choose to make a cash payment upon your arrival at Cordes sur Ciel. Feel free to inform us via email about your preferred payment method.

I am Armin Skirde …

… and I work with stoneware clay; most of my pieces are wheel-thrown and fired at 1240°C in an electric kiln.

I try to preserve as much of the natural character as possible – the earthy quality that the pieces gain through their thin outer glaze.

Equally important to me are the traces that clay carries through its processing – slip marks, throwing lines, dents, bumps, fingerprints.

Similar to the approach of the famous Steve Fullmer from New Zealand:
*“Once he might have wiped a drip, corrected a slip, but now he allows it to stay. ‘It’s a mistake and someone had to do it. In fifty years it will be the mark of something made by hand.’”

My decoration is strongly influenced by prehistoric cave painting – archaic, yet with a playful expression.
I have also been shaped by my many international markets (England, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, …). The wide spectrum of ceramics and the different approaches I encountered there have broadened my horizon.

There are also many ceramicists whose work I greatly admire – Hervé Rousseau, Johannes Peters, Walter Sälzer, Stefan Bang, Terry Davies, to name just a few.
All of this has certainly influenced my artistic development and, as many say, has led me to a truly distinctive and unmistakable ceramic style.

Course information
This course is suitable for beginners.
Classes will be held in both German and English.
We will conclude with the firing of an electric kiln.