A fun and creative summer activity; The Painting Pottery Cafe

For the perfect activity to do with your friends or family, head to The Painting Pottery Cafe on Brighton’s central North Road. Ceramic painting has been the latest trend on social media for a little while now, whether that is doing a spot of art in the park, enjoying a paint and sip event, or simply looking for the ideal craft to make you feel at peace. This wholesome task allows all ages to unleash their creativity in therapeutic strokes of a paintbrush, but The Painting Pottery Cafe has been hosting such a trend for twenty five years!

Yes, The Painting Pottery Cafe was established in 1998, first as Glaze Expression in Bognor Regis. The studio in Brighton opened a year later and is exceptionally popular for artists and non-artists alike to try out something unique. The initial owner, Gill, was inspired by a shop in America, before she went on to create her own space. Then in December 2021, manager and employee of four years Fern took the reins, keen to continue Gill and her store’s established legacy.

The Painting Pottery Cafe, since 2021, has had a rebrand of all new tools and sessions for customers to explore. The key ethos of the store is making pottery accessible for everyone regardless of age or ability. Amongst some of their classes are taster sessions on the potters wheel for adults on weekends, and kids taster classes in the school holidays for those that are ages 8-12 years. Some of the events are even more special. Imagine bringyour-own-booze and themed evenings!

This little business evidently caters to all ages, from babies doing footprints on a mug, to hen parties celebrating together; kids parties, dates, anniversaries, you name it. As a team of young creatives themselves, they want inclusivity to be at the heart of what they provide so that everyone can feel at home and inspired. Outside of their studio positions, all the staff have their own creative outlets including music, filmmaking, their own ceramics, painting etc. making them a truly helpful and friendly bunch.

On top of all the above, The Painting Pottery Cafe takes great care in their ethics. They support a family run business in Italy for most of their pottery, so that it does not travel too far. Any scrap clay from making sessions gets recycled in a process called reclaiming clay, meaning it can be endlessly used and they recycle as much as possible using Recorra, including paper, card, plastics, metals, and coffee grounds. Where possible, they order products with as little packaging as possible and reuse packaging to wrap customer pottery for post. And, they don’t throw away pottery. If it’s unpainted but damaged, it will get left on the doorstep for people to find, love and take home for crafty projects.

Make this your go-to activity for the summer. You can even have a Small Batch Coffee and cake from GOSH Patisserie while you are there.

Upcoming July events include Late Night Painting (6 July), Ghibli themed evening (12 July), evening classes (13 and 20 July), and a Moomin themed evening (26 July). The first Kids School Holiday Taster Throwdown is on Tues Aug 1, and the next on Thurs 24 Aug.

www.paintingpotterycafe.co.uk