The pottery workshop

Pottery in the life of the brothers of the Taizé Community

About ninety brothers from thirty different countries live in the Taizé Community. An essential part of the life of the community is the pottery workshop in Taizé. This explains why certain things are done this way and not another. The brothers are first and foremost neither artists nor simple workers. They are brothers who have made a spiritual commitment to life. At the same time, they live steps of concrete solidarity - on the ground in Taizé with thousands of young adults from all over the world, and also in other places around the world.

It all began in the winter of 1949, when a pottery was created in Taizé, almost exclusively hand-turned. One focus was the development of glazes, which at first consisted primarily of plant ash.

Although the number of brothers has steadily increased, the community still makes its living exclusively from the proceeds of its own work. However, for most of the brothers, the work in the pottery workshop is not the only task in their common commitment and life in the community.

All of the pottery made in the workshop is available for sale in the Taizé Community's "Exposition. Taizé itself sells only a few pieces of its pottery through its own web store (https://shop.taize.fr/). The production of the pottery consists of simple work processes. Machines are used for some processes, such as turning in molds, pressing, and casting. The aim is to produce objects of daily use at affordable prices.

From the beginning, two work processes have always been maintained. These are the production of the pottery clay from local raw materials (different clays) and the mixing of the glazes. The glazes are one of the distinctive features of the Taizé pottery. The kilns of the pottery work with natural gas.

Source: Taizé


Here you can find the video links of the making of Taizé pottery ceramic items:

The making of a Taizé clay cup?

How to make a Taizé photophore?