The Clay Centre is a pottery studio at 145 Marua Road in Ellerslie, Auckland, that opened in July 2019. It was set up by a full-time potter and her husband David, who built the studio themselves, with the aim of making a teaching studio open to potters at any level. The studio offers ongoing hand-building, wheel throwing and sculpture classes, along with single and multi-day workshops. The best-known is Wheel & Wine, a Friday night workshop where beginners get two attempts on the wheel to make a cup and a bowl, and the $75 ticket covers the clay, both firings and instruction. Customers can keep both pieces for $20 more, and they bring their own drink. Other workshops are Coffee & Clay on Saturday mornings, which the website says suits ages nine and up, and Saturday Spin in the afternoon.
The studio is open 9am to 5pm on weekdays and 9am to 12pm on Saturdays. Workshop dates are released at the start of each month, with a preview first. Finished work can be collected three to four weeks after a class, and must be collected within six weeks of the email. Private events for groups of 12 to 16 people are available for team building, birthdays and hens and stag nights, and gift vouchers can be bought online.