Clay. Community.
A hill built from broken things.
Who we are
Amfora is a ceramics studio at the Abbotsford Convent Arts Precinct. We’re here for anyone who wants to learn to work with clay. No pretension, no pressure, and no experience required. Our classes are designed to build your skills over time, with a studio membership waiting for when you’re ready to work independently and follow your own creative instincts.
Our teachers are working practitioners. We are still making, still developing our own craft, and we bring that into every session.
'Amfora' takes its name from the ancient vessels that built Monte Testaccio — a hill in Rome constructed entirely from the broken remains of over 53 million Roman amphorae. Carefully terraced, 35 metres high, it is the largest deposit of human-made objects on earth. What looks like a hill is really a record of making. Proof that ordinary things, shaped by hand from clay, endure, and that broken things can become something extraordinary.
Clay has ideas of its own… It can tell you what it wants to be. And we believe that enjoying the process and letting go of expectations is often where the good stuff starts.
Making is for everyone. You don’t need to think of yourself as an artist.
There’s something very human about touching and moulding the earth that unlocks a part of you that is creative, joyful, and can otherwise feel out of reach.
We want Amfora to feel like a place that belongs to the people who come here.
It can be lively, full of laughter, first attempts, and the satisfaction of watching something take shape. Other times quiet, with members lost in clay or the rhythm of the wheel.
The people are the point.
What you make at Amfora matters. Who you make with is also important.
The Convent
Being at the Abbotsford Convent is all part of the experience. It’s one of Melbourne’s great creative communities and a working arts precinct with decades of history, beautiful gardens, and the Yarra River winding alongside it.
You’re surrounded by nature, by artists and makers, and by old stone buildings that give the whole place a feeling you didn't know you needed.
We love it here and we think you will too.
Find out about our class and membership options.
