Slow Pottery - A 10 Day Beginner's Pottery Retreat

This August & September, spend ten days with your hands in clay, at Velanga Orchard — our farm that we also call our home, a mango orchard in South India,( 3-4 hours from Bengaluru or Chennai airport)

The Slow Pottery retreat was born from a simple idea, make pottery accessible without losing the integrity of the craft. Over ten days, you'll learn both hand building and wheel throwing introductory techniques, and leave with a small collection of pieces you made yourself — alongside a genuine reset, away from the noise.

We'll take care of the rest. Choose from private or shared accommodation, enjoy home-cooked Indian meals through your stay, and let the quiet of farm life do its work between sessions.

Date 

August 17th to 28th (Check in Aug 17th post 11am, Check out 28th August before 12pm)

September 16th to 27th (Check in Sep 16th post 11am , Check out 27th Sep before 12pm)

Slots per batch - 8

What You'll Learn

 

An introductory course covering the essential techniques of the craft:

  • Hand building — pinching, coiling, slab work, and decorative carving
  • Wheel throwing — centering, opening, pulling walls, and forming a basic pot
  • The full process — trimming, glazing, and firing your own work in an electric kiln.

Please note - 10 day are not enough to dive deep into any technique. There may be some areas where you require days of practice which you can continue in a homestudio if you wish to. Please treat this retreat as a fun way to get into pottery and not an in depth pottery course.

Location 

Velanga Orchard, Bodabandla Village, Andhra Pradesh 

Location point on google maps - Velanga Orchards 

An ultra-private 50 acres mango orchard, skirting a reserve forest at the foot of a hill with a couple of lakes nearby. Surrounded by shrub forests endowed with over a 100 species of birds and animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have built the cottages using vernacular design, local material and vintage aesthetics. The space is surrounded by neem, coconut, teak trees, under the canopies of mango trees, with the hill at the back and lush green all around.

You can read more about our farm here :)

The Schedule

Day

Focus

1

 Clay prep, hand building - pinching, intro to the wheel 

2

Hand building - Coiling, Wheel - centering, opening 

3

Wheel - Pulling walls, basic forms

4

Hand building- Slab work, carving, wheel practice

5

Wheel work + trimming prep, bisque firing (evening)

6

Trimming, glaze introduction

7

Application demo, glaze prep 

8

Glazing, kiln firing begins 

9

Kiln cools — a rest day

10

Kiln opens, photoshoot, packing

11

Check out

No prior experience needed — just a willingness to get your hands dirty and slow down.

Studio Hours

All Days 10:30am to 7pm ( Includes 1 hour lunch and tea break ) 

Studio Hours with Teacher - 10:30am to 4pm

Hours to work in the studio by yourself - 4pm to 7pm 

Course Fee

10 Day Beginner Pottery Retreat

  • Shared Accommodation (2 people sharing) - Cottage Benesha

This accommodation type is a shared room with two individual beds, shared kitchenette, bath and patio for two people.

Fees - Rs. 56,500/- includes the course, materials, firings, accommodation, meals and tax for one person for 10 days.

  • Individual Private Cottages - Cottage Rumani

This accommodation is a private cottage for one person with a single bed, bath, kitchenette, patio. 

Fees - Rs. 67,000/- includes the course, materials, firings, accommodation, meals, farm activities and tax for one person for 10 days.

 

Boarding & Lodging

- All cottages have kitchenettes equipped with mini fridges, induction plate, basic utensils, drying racks

- Laundry facilities available — use our self-service laundry room during your stay.

- All three meals with snacks will be provided, basic vegetarian or non vegetarian Indian meals at the common dining room.

- You can let us know if you are allergic to any ingredients. 

 - Accommodation & Meals will be provided for the entire duration of your course. This includes weekends (when the classes are not running)

Accommodation Gallery 

 

(The rooms are similar to the photos- every room has unique features that may not be in the photos)

  • Shared Accommodation Benesha

  • Individual Private Cottages Rumani

 

HOW TO REACH US 

Velanga Orchard, Bodabandla village is located in Bangarupalem Tehsil of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Velanga Orchard, the location found on google maps is 164km from Bangalore International Airport. 

You can reach the Orchard via bus and car/cab. Most of our students in the same batch coordinate with each other a few days before the course and come from Bangalore airport to our farm together. In case you have any hesitation in travelling alone, this is for you :)

The road to our farm is gorgeous and smooth with quite a few cafe and restaurant stops.

TO BOOK YOUR SLOT

To book your slot, please write to us at hello@slowpottery.com with your contact number and preferred accommodation type and we'll get back to you at the earliest.

Payment - we only accept full payment. Slots are booked on payment.

 

CANCELLATION POLICY 

  • August batch - In case of cancellation, no refunds will be provided.
  • Sepetmber batch - We will provide a 50% refund in case of cancellation before 16th August. Post 15th august, no refund will be provided.
  • Due to any reason, you have to leave during the course, we won't be able to give you a refund or reschedule.
  • We follow this policy without any exceptions. 
  • We take three to four weeks to process the refund. 

Hope to see you soon!

If you have any doubts, email us at hello@slowpottery.com or DM us on our instagram handle 'slowpottery'. I will personally get back to you within 24 hours.

Cheers,

Nikita