Traditional Korean Onggi Workshop
Five Day Courses
Monday 7th June - Friday 11th June 2027
Monday 14th June - Friday 18th June 2027
Monday 21st June - Friday 25th June 2027
Monday 28th June - Friday 2nd July 2027
Instructors
Kim Yong-ho – Korean Onggi Master and Intangible Cultural Heritage Holder
Kim Hee Gun – 8th-generation successor of the Obuja Onggi family tradition
About the Instructors
The Obuja Onggi family has preserved the tradition of Korean Onggi for eight generations, with a history dating back to the period of the Catholic persecution in Korea.
The 6th-generation master, Kim Il-man, was designated as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage holder. The 7th-generation master, Kim Yong-ho, is also recognised as an Intangible Cultural Heritage holder and continues to preserve and develop the traditional craft today.
The current 8th-generation successor, Kim Hee Gun, actively promotes Onggi through social media and international workshops. By connecting traditional craftsmanship with contemporary audiences, he is helping introduce one of Korea's most significant cultural heritages to people around the world.
Kim Hee Gun came and taught two workshops at Crown Works in early 2026 and the courses were so successful we have invited him back. We are therefore so lucky to now host his father Kim Yong-ho as the main instructor alongside Kim Hee Gun as his assistant.
About Traditional Korean Onggi
Onggi is a traditional Korean ceramic ware and an important part of Korea's cultural heritage. For centuries, it has been used to store and ferment foods such as kimchi, doenjang (soybean paste), and gochujang (red chili paste). Its naturally breathable structure creates an ideal environment for fermentation.
The techniques used in Onggi making are also unique in the world of ceramics. They allow large vessels to be built efficiently within a relatively short period of time using traditional hand-building methods. These skills are increasingly rare in contemporary ceramics, making Onggi an invaluable traditional craft.
CLASS DESCRIPTION
This will be a hands on five day intensive workshop for those who are of an intermediate or advanced level. There will be a maximum of ten students per class, each having their own dedicated electric wheel.
You will come away learning many new traditional techniques; ‘TARIM’ ‘SUREJIL’ and ‘GEUNGAEJIL’ as well as understanding the history of the form and its processes.
Your instructors will be demonstrating on a traditional Onggi Wheel made specifically for the workshop, all students will have opportunities to use the Onggi wheel over the course, whilst mainly working on their own dedicated electric wheels to improve their own techniques after the key demonstrations have taken place of each key method.
Day 1
Introduction to the theory and history of Korean Onggi
Traditional Onggi-making demonstration
Basic coil-building practice
Day 2
Advanced coil-building techniques
Creating a small Onggi vessel using the Seol-jil (cutting and shaping) technique
Day 3
Practice of Tarim and Surejil techniques
Understanding form expansion, wall control, and vessel structure
Day 4
Advanced Onggi making (medium-sized vessels)
Large-scale Onggi demonstration by Master Kim Yong-ho
Day 5
Personal project
Demonstration and participant involvement in creating a large Onggi vessel (approximately 60 cm)
Teaching Format
Demonstrations
Hands-on practice
Individual one-on-one feedback
Language
English
You are most welcome to keep the Onggi you make, but it will need to be picked up and fired outside of Crown Works no more than a week post the class finishing (we have limited space for giant pots!) We imagine that the majority of students will use the course as a way to learn and experiment and that most pots will be sacrificial, but that is up to you. Just as a note, the pots will be extremely heavy and hard to move so please also keep this in mind if you are attempting to take them away! We will be using a Terracotta clay with a high grog content which fires between 1080-1180c
CROWN WORKS ONGGI TOOLS AND WHEELS
ONGGI TOOL SETS
We also now have beautiful sets of Onggi Tools for preorder. They are made specifically for Crown Works in Korea. They are made in the most traditional way and are as authentic as you can buy and they should last you a lifetime with proper care.
PRICE: £330 for the set. For more information click HERE
THE ONGGI WHEEL
We are also incredibly excited to announce that our Director Giulietta Hextall has been busy bringing together traditional designs and has developed her own Onggi Wheels made to order in Cornwall. These are now available to preorder from our website, they will be made in batches and the next batch will commence being made in March.
Please contact Giulietta@crownworkspottery.com directly with any question and you are also welcome to come into the studio to see and try one in person.
PRICE: £2400 For more information click HERE
Photot Credits: Iris Humm
HANDBUILDING - ALL LEVELS
The five-session course runs daily for two hours from Monday to Friday. All the courses are suitable for all levels, including beginners and returning students looking to improve their skills.
If this is your first time working with clay, this is a brilliant way to be introduced to clay as a material. You will begin your session by handling soft clay and rolling out coils to later use to make a pot of your choice. On subsequent sessions, your instructor will demonstrate how to use the slab roller compress clay to long sheets that can be cut and shaped to create larger scale work.
For those who are more experienced, you are very welcome and we will explore the techniques you find most suited to your aims. We will then help you improve your skills and aim for those forms you wish to pursue.
The course allows you to keep 6 pots per student depending on size, if you do wish to keep further pots, you can pay £10 per extra vessel directly on the website under the ‘extra pot payment’ tab. This fee is to cover the clay, firings and glazing. We do however encourage students to be as critical of their work as possible and only keep what they know they will use, or is going to sit proudly somewhere to look at, as we want to aim to be as environmentally friendly as possible and clay can only be recycled pre their firings, but not after!
We are now offering the option of returning to the studio 1 week (minimum) after your workshop to glaze your own pieces in a selection of our 10 house glazes. These sessions will take place under the guidance of one of our experienced instructors. You can book your glaze add on session here.
There is a maximum of 10 people who attend each class.
THROWN AND ALTERED - INTERMEDIATE
Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June - 10:00-16:00 both days
We are incredibly pleased to invite Sabine Nemet as a guest potter for the first time to teach a two-day workshop at Crown Works Pottery.
Sabine completed an apprenticeship as a thrower in East Germany in 1997 with Hans Joachim Grünert in Waldenburg(Sachsen). She then underwent a three year long thorough training in producing domestic ware exclusively on the potter’s wheel. This is also where she was first introduced to wood firing. Since then, the excitement of staying up all night feeding an ever hungry kiln with wood, the direct impact of when and how much wood to put in the firebox, has never left her. In 2000 Sabine travelled to England to gain more experience in ceramics and has lived in the UK ever since.
Sabines pots are mainly thrown, sometimes altered, cut and put together again. As decoration she use stamps, made from carved porcelain. The shapes on the stamps are based on nature, seeds leaf pattern, flowers, which are then pressed into the clay repeatedly. When the clay is completely dry, the imprint is filled with different coloured glazes and then sometimes glazed over again. She use simple glazes on the inside of pots and on the outside various coloured slips or no slips at all to fully utilise the effects of wood firing and soda glazing.
In this course you will explore throwing a range of different shapes to then alter. Sabine will guide you through the techniques to do this with shapes such as casserole dishes, bowls and platters. You will look at the importance of different handles and how they effect the final pieces and how to apply lugs.
Two Day Courses - Throwing on the wheel - ALL LEVELS
All classes will run from 11:00-17:00 on both days
Suitable for complete beginners as well as those who are more advanced; An All Level Course.
For our beginners we will take you through the basic techniques of throwing on the wheel. We will start with learning how to centre your clay, moving straight on to throwing cylinders and bowls, then learning how to turn your work on the Sunday to give your bowls feet and to tidy your pieces up. On the last half of your second day, we experiment with decoration techniques with slip as well as mark making with texture tools and stamps. We will then fire your work for you, putting a tin white glaze over your finished pieces, after they have been through their initial firing, giving a lovely muted affect to any coloured slips you have used beneath this glaze.
If you are already more experienced, we will help you progress from the level you are at , taking into account your current aims to increase your skills further.
We are now offering the option of returning to the studio 1 week (minimum) after your workshop to glaze your own pieces in a selection of our 10 house glazes. These sessions will take place under the guidance of one of our experienced instructors. You can book your glaze add on session here.