Artists are a highly diverse community with vastly different needs — especially when it comes to workspaces, tools, equipment, and the technical conditions required to use them. This is particularly true for ceramists, whose practice involves not only artistic skills but also complex architectural and technical requirements: ventilation, power load, kilns, sinks, safe exits, and more.
Within the broader art world, ceramic artists remain one of the most underappreciated groups. Their tools and materials are voluminous and often fragile. Studios must meet strict criteria just to be functional, let alone inspiring. Yet many ceramists are forced to work in shared spaces with shared equipment, lacking proper storage, transportation, or selling solutions once they pass the “exit door” of the studio. That’s where Club Ceramists steps in.
Creating a Support System for Ceramists
Club Ceramists is a developing platform designed to support ceramic artists in every aspect of their journey — from creation to sale. We aim to offer a professional, collaborative marketplace where ceramists can display their business cards, sell their work, post blogs, share visuals, and interact with buyers, donors, and fellow ceramic art lovers. It’s a community platform — not just a shop, but a network of support.
Introducing Domaines des Crafts
Domaines des Crafts is a branch of Club Ceramists focused on residencies, education, and infrastructure. It connects ceramists and students with hosts who are willing to offer space, tools, and technical setups to create ceramics in proper conditions. The goal is to establish long- and short-term residencies in spaces equipped for real ceramic practice — whether that includes wheel work, extraction of natural pigments, glazing, firing, or exhibition. These spaces must go beyond the minimum. They must meet real ceramic needs.
Representation and Fairness
Club Ceramists also helps match artists with hosts in a fair and transparent way. We offer guidance to ensure contracts are clear, representation rights are respected, and percentage agreements are not exploitative. We advocate for the legal and financial rights of artists, especially those who work in ceramics, to be represented properly — to be paid properly — and to be respected.
A Broader Mission through SAB Center
Through our parent nonprofit, SAB Center, we take a firm stand to educate cities, developers, and architects on the needs of ceramic artists. We challenge the misleading language used to promote “artist lofts” that in reality exclude ceramic practice altogether. In cities like Los Angeles, developers exploit market value to offer “artist” housing in old buildings that lack insulation, ventilation, electrical capacity for kilns or tools, or even decent flooring. Kitchens are often unworkable, bathrooms poorly ventilated, and aesthetics entirely neglected — yet these spaces are rented for prices similar to new builds.
These conditions are not just inconvenient — they are exclusionary. Developers market these spaces under the banner of affordability or artistic community, but often they are neither. SAB Center actively investigates these claims and brings forward audits and public reports on fraudulent housing offers and exclusionary development programs. Many so-called “affordable units” within new builds are either not available or subject to selective gatekeeping.
Why This Matters
Ceramists represent the most materially demanding form of artistic practice. If their needs are ignored, all artists are at risk. Defending the rights of ceramic artists means defending the very foundation of artistic diversity. It means advocating for affordable, fair housing; for proper exhibition opportunities and fees; for non-exploitative gallery contracts; and for fair wages.
A city without artists is a city on the brink of cultural decay. A city that pushes ceramists out is a city that chooses class struggle over creative community. Club Ceramists was created to stop that decline — and to stand for a future where ceramic artists are supported, respected, and given the tools to build a sustainable life.