Connecting With Clay

The first time I touched clay, I felt like I’d arrived home. It’s the only way I can describe it. I now have the privilege of seeing a lot of students arrive in a similar place in our classes.

I think this sense of coming to a safe and familiar place when you work with clay derives from a variety of sources. We are working with a material which is essentially earth and I couldn’t think of anything more grounding.

In a world that constantly encourages us to achieve, become and do better, pottery offers us an opportunity to just be - to be right there in the moment, making. To use our hands and to feel our way through the process.

I also believe that when we work with clay, we start reconnecting with ourselves. We feel inward and there’s this magic re-connection happening between our hands, heart and head. The thinking mind gets a rest and the heart an opportunity to express itself in a safe contained space created by the teaching environment.

This beautiful thing happens when we start reconnecting with ourselves: we start to reconnect with the wider world around us, including other people and nature. Goodness knows that the world needs healing, grounding and connecting at the moment and I’m so grateful that I get to offer this through the classes we run at SkandiHus. 

Come join the clay revolution and let’s make the world a better plate*, one ball of clay at the time  

Stine x 

*excuse that terrible plate pun but I couldn’t resist...

Let's Talk Ceramics: Stine's Feature in Domus Nova

We were delighted to have SkandiHus founder, Stine Dulong, featured in Domus Nova’s 28th magazine issue. In the feature, Stine shares her story of how she turned her passion for pottery into a business, creating SkandiHus.

“The SkandiHus brand is inspired by a love for Scandinavian design in which beauty is radiated through light colours, the ample use of natural materials, minimalism and functionality. I started SkandiHus because I realised that this was where I belonged in life, and I wanted to share my love of clay with people around me.”

We were also thrilled to see Feldspar featured, as it’s a pottery brand that we have always admired.

Thank you Domus Nova for the lovely piece!

Read the full interview here.

Town and Country 'Sustainable Stocking Fillers' Feature

Thank you to the wonderful Alexandra Dudley for including our studio in the Town and Country ‘Luxury Guide to Sustainable Stocking Fillers’. Our taster sessions are a wonderful way to give someone a new skill and the gift of creating their very own pot from scratch.

If you purchase one of our tasters sessions as a present, you will receive a beautiful gift voucher in the post to give to the recipient. We also have our beautiful SkandiHus heavy khaki cotton aprons, that are a wonderful addition to your gift and a great way to get the recipient excited about their day with clay.

If your loved ones are busy bees, you could instead purchase a gift voucher for the value of £45, so that the recipient can choose a date that best works for them.

Dudley’s guide is a thoughtful and considered list of wonderful gift ideas that won’t make Mother Earth weep this festive season, and we are so happy to be part of it.

Read the full guide here.

Sudden Entrepreneur: Stine's Feature in The Telegraph

Stine was so pleased to be interviewed last month by The Telegraph for their ‘Sudden Entrepreneur’ feature, to share the story of her journey into the world of clay and how she found the courage to make her career change:

‘Some of my former colleagues thought I’d lost my mind. Even my parents worried - my dad cornered me at my sister’s birthday party, asking me how I was going to pay my bills. I still have moments of panic, but then again, I also have many moments of real elation too’.

Thank you to the team at The Telegraph for such a lovely piece!

SkandiHus Feature in The Wire

We were so thrilled to see SkandiHus featured in this month’s issue of The Wire, in their ‘THINGS WE LOVE in the city’ feature. It’s always such a joy to see our little clay sanctuary being represented in print, especially alongside some of our favourite city spots, such as Elan Cafe and the V&A. Thanks to the team for scouting us out in our quiet studio in a corner of London.

Staying Present and Finding Joy in the Moment

When I first started making ceramics, I noticed an overwhelming change in my ability to focus, relax, and be in the now. Making something by hand connected me to the immediate moment in a way that I had never experienced before, and for the first time I was able to have myself with me - all of me. 

This change didn’t just happen in my work, it started to permeate throughout my life generally. I started approaching everything with a much more present approach. I stopped worrying so much about things that don’t matter in the bigger scheme of things and trained myself to focus more on all the positive things in life, on all the little acts of kindness that happen around us all the time. And I let myself feel more.

I knew I felt a sense of happiness when making, and that's all I knew. I've since come across the ideologies behind "mindfulness". It was like someone else had put words to what I intuitively felt and knew to be a better approach to life. When I was making, I was there in the moment, "staying" with what I was doing and, probably for the first time, I stopped running away from things and I stopped looking for the next fix that would fill the emptiness that I was feeling inside.

I slowed down and started noticing all the little things in my life that gave me a sense of meaning and fulfilment; a smile from a passerby, the sun warming my face on the bus, a hug from a friend at the studio, a stranger picking up the papers I dropped in a shop - all the little miracles of life and the kindness in the world that so many of us are too busy to notice because we are living in a society that has become obsessed with success, happiness, beauty, achievements and instant gratification. 

I still have days when I don't manage to focus on the kindness around me and I feel stressed and overwhelmed. I then try to remind myself of this important fact: being busy and stressed is a choice, just as slowing down is. I try to remind myself of this every time I start to feel my mind speeding up or tripping over itself, overwhelming my head with thoughts flooding in. In those moments, I choose to stop, take a step back from it all, and if I’m really struggling, stick my hands in some clay. 


Stine x