Most of the week we are at the wheel or at the bench, so replies are not instant. Email is the reliable channel for quotes, glaze samples and workshop visits. Phone works best for short questions about an order already in progress. If you write on a Friday afternoon, expect an answer on Monday morning rather than the same day.
Send dimensions in millimetres, quantity and the finish you have in mind. We reply within two working days with material notes and a lead time.
info@shoppario.comUse the phone line when a batch is already in the kiln or on the loom and you need a status update. Lines are open during workshop hours, Monday to Thursday.
015 879 2966Visits to the Woodstock workshop are by appointment so we can lay out samples without interrupting a firing. Ask for a slot at least a week ahead.
67157 siphokazi Motorway
Padayacheemouth, KZN 6538
A few words on this page get read in different ways depending on whether you come from a shop, a gallery, or a home kitchen. Here is how we use them in the workflow, so nothing is left to guesswork later.
Counted from the day the deposit clears and the material list is signed off, not from the first email. Drying and firing schedules for gres and brass runs are fixed, so a two-week delay in confirming glaze samples pushes the whole slot back by the same amount.
A glaze sample is a 60 mm test tile fired on the same clay body, useful for colour and surface only. It is not a scaled-down version of the final plate or lamp. Wall thickness, weight and rim profile are set at the production stage and can differ from the tile.
Every fiche lists diameter, height and wall thickness in mm, taken with a caliper on a finished piece. Hand-thrown work varies: expect up to 5 mm of difference between units in the same batch. If a fixed dimension matters for your shelving or packaging, say so before we start.
Acacia bark, madder root and onion skin give a different tone on every dip, and the colour shifts with the water and the season. We log each batch in a colour card, but a reorder will sit close to, not identical with, the original. That is the nature of the process, not a defect.
Boards come from demolition sites around Cape Town, so grain, nail marks and old paint traces stay visible. We plane and stabilise the wood but do not hide its history. Species and exact dimensions depend on what the yard has that month.
The Woodstock workshop runs a small number of commissions at a time. When the kiln and the bench are full, we hold new requests until a slot opens rather than rush a firing. You will get a realistic start date, not an optimistic one.
Every order follows the same sequence, whether it is a single sample glaze or a full run of tableware for a café. The dates below are typical for a small batch; larger runs and custom tooling shift the schedule, and we say so before anything starts.
Week 1
Brief and samples
You send dimensions, intended use and any reference pieces. We reply with a written scope: number of units, clay body, glaze options and the wall thickness we can hold. Glaze samples ship within five working days, and nothing is booked until you approve one.
Week 2 to 3
Prototype
We throw a single prototype on the wheel, dry it slowly over four days and fire it to 1240 °C. You receive it with a spec sheet listing diameter, height and weight in millimetres. This is the point where rim profiles and foot rings get adjusted, and it is cheaper to change things now than mid-run.
Week 4 to 7
Production
Batches run in groups of eight to twelve so the kiln loads evenly. Drying takes longer in Cape Town's wet winter months, and we build that into the schedule rather than rush it. Expect roughly ten percent variation in glaze tone between firings; we photograph each batch and keep the record on file.
Week 8
Handover
Finished pieces are checked for cracks and chips, wrapped in recycled paper and packed in crates for collection from the Woodstock workshop. Each order leaves with a materials sheet and process photos. If you need a courier, we can arrange one, but the packing standard stays the same either way.
Most of what people ask us sits between the first email and the kiln firing. Here are the answers we give most often, written the way we would say them at the bench.
Thrown stoneware and brushed brass pieces usually run six to nine weeks from confirmed drawings. Natural-dyed textiles add roughly two weeks because each bath needs to dry and be colour-checked before weaving. We share a dated schedule with your order so you know when the first sample and the final batch leave Woodstock.
Yes. For ceramics we send two or three glaze tiles on the same clay body you ordered, so the colour reads true under your own lighting. For brass we send a brushed sample plate, and for textiles a swatch card from the actual dye bath. Nothing goes into production until you sign off on one of them.
Every piece ships with a spec sheet in millimetres: diameter, height, wall thickness, weight and fitting type. We take small runs from twelve units for tableware and single pieces for lighting or furniture. Larger café and gallery orders are split into batches so the studio can keep the hand-finishing consistent.
Send a short brief with the pieces you have in mind and where they will live. We reply with material options and a realistic timeline, then book a studio visit in Woodstock if you want to handle samples in person. The full sequence, from brief to delivery, is laid out on our workflow page, and anything still unclear can go straight to contact.