Maria Katrina Paras

Article (news)

Pottery for Mental Health Laro Ceramics

<p>There is a unique kind of disappointment that comes after watching a piece of clay collapse in your hands. One minute, a shape resembling a bowl starts forming; the next, it caves inward into a soggy, failed heap. But unlike the majority of mistakes we make in life, this one does not come with letter grades, angry bosses, or any real-world consequences. It simply leaves you with the raw clay and the choice to mold it again.</p><p>This lack of judgment could very well be why pottery is such an enjoyable experience.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" style="width:700px;display:block" width="700"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1785750866917Laro Ceramics 1.jpg" style="width:700px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" width="700"/><span class="fr-inner">The pottery wheel at Laro Ceramics | Photo via Kate Paras-Santiago</span></span></span></div><p>In an age that demands a flawless, picture-perfect digital lifestyle,<strong> pottery</strong> provides a wonderfully messy alternative: <strong>a hobby where failure is almost a certainty. Clay breaks. Glazes run. Handles that have been carefully attached fall off in the kiln. And yet, somehow, life goes on.</strong></p><p>Pottery isn’t just a form of artistic expression; it is one of the few hobbies that allows us to sit with frustration, embrace imperfection, and surrender to failure. It teaches us to pay attention, rather than to force control over our medium.</p><div><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong>Clay teaches us to let go of control</strong></div><p>Our modern, hyper-curated world has conditioned us to be meticulous, to prevent mistakes, and to micro-manage every possible outcome. On the other hand, pottery teaches us that there is no such thing as being perfectly in control. Because clay is such an unpredictable material,<strong> it refuses to be bullied.</strong>  You cannot force a shape into existence through sheer willpower. You have to listen to how the medium responds to your hands. </p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" style="width:700px;display:block" width="700"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1785751033018Laro Ceramics Pottery 2.jpg" style="width:700px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" width="700"/><span class="fr-inner">Pottery by students at Laro Ceramics | Photo via Kate Paras-Santiago</span></span></span></div><p>The process is a gauntlet of volatile variables: the raw clay might be too wet or too dry, pieces can warp as they dehydrate, and glazes might bleed or interact in ways you never anticipated. Sometimes, the kiln simply has its own ideas. It requires you to continuously adapt to unexpected cracks, changing colors, and broken parts. When you stop fighting the material and learn to collaborate with it, the focus shifts <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-path-to-passionate-happiness/202412/5-life-lessons-from-the-world-of-pottery" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">from chasing an idealized outcome to adapting to the process itself</a>. This change in perspective is perhaps one of pottery’s most liberating lessons: It teaches us to release our tight grip on things we cannot control.</p><div><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong>Pottery brings the mind back to the present</strong></div><p>Connecting with clay requires our full attention.<strong> You cannot center a spinning wall of clay when your mind is wandering off to yesterday’s frustrations or tomorrow’s to-do list. </strong>On the surface, pottery seems to have all the hallmarks of a textbook well-being practice: cool medium, rhythmical movements, and the quiet whir of the wheel. Yet, its true grounding power does not lie in its ability to help us disconnect, but rather in how fiercely it forces us to engage. Because any variation in speed, pressure, or even posture instantly alters the form beneath your fingers, focusing on the process naturally <a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/03/28/magazine/pottery-therapy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pulls one’s mind from distractions and locks it into the present moment, serving as an anchor for the stressed mind.</a></p><p>Clay also gives a sense of tangible reality for people who spend most of their time tapping and scrolling through a virtual world. It is heavy, reacts to your movements, leaves traces on your skin; and unlike buried emails in your inbox, a poorly pinched bowl stays right in front of your face—impossible to ignore.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" style="width:700px;display:block" width="700"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1785751414898Laro Ceramics Pottery 3.jpg" style="width:700px;display:block;height:auto" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" width="700"/><span class="fr-inner">Clay also gives a sense of tangible reality for people who spend most of their time tapping and scrolling through a virtual world. | Photo via Kate Paras-Santiago</span></span></span></div><div><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong>Pottery makes us feel less of a failure</strong></div><p>By redefining our relationship with control and anchoring us in the present, pottery fundamentally alters how we view our mistakes. When a pot collapses, it is no longer a personal judgement of our skills—it is simply a natural part of the creative cycle. While losing a piece is always disheartening, the craft is beautifully low-risk. The clay can often just be compacted, re-centered, and worked with again. Even when you can’t salvage a piece of work, there is always something to learn from it for the next time around. Instead of falling into the abyss of “I’m so bad at this,” pottery allows more productive self-reflection: Is the clay too soft? Am I working too fast? How else can I approach this?</p><p>Because pottery is a craft full of these vulnerable moments, it offers us a continual practice in <a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/03/28/magazine/pottery-therapy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">letting go of our attachment to any specific outcome</a>. We learn to see failure as a temporary event that happened on the wheel, rather than a permanent statement of our identity.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" style="width:700px;display:block" width="700"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1785751740081Laro Ceramics Pottery Metro Darshen.jpg" style="width:700px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" width="700"/><span class="fr-inner">The Metro team visited Laro Ceramics in BGC</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>How pottery became a source of grounding at Laro Ceramics</strong></div><p>This sense of grounding is evident in the local studio, Laro Ceramics. Founder <strong>Erika Austria</strong> started dabbling in pottery during the pandemic as a means of finding some form of peace in those uncertain times. While her initial interest was purely personal, this eventually evolved into a space where people could engage with the clay for themselves.</p><p>Laro Ceramics is a perfect local example of how pottery transforms from a solitary practice into a collective experience. By hosting workshops in Quezon City and BGC, their studios create a communal space for reflection and easy connection. Currently, Laro Ceramics offers beginner-friendly workshops on wheel throwing, hand building, and ceramic painting. The goal is not necessarily to produce a perfect mug. In fact, pottery becomes deeply meaningful precisely because of the imperfection of the results.</p><div><br/></div><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbLDcY1R63H/embed/captioned/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=540&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A28103971.199999996%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="1095" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><p>New students might come with expectations of creating the perfect cups or bowls, but end up with fingerprints on their creations, crooked handles, imperfect rims, and even accidental dents. Yet these imperfections are not necessarily errors.  A wobbly mug can still hold coffee. A shallow bowl will still catch the keys. An unexpected glaze might turn out to be the highlight of the entire piece. Pottery makes it possible to combine practicality, aesthetics, and imperfection within one item—proving that the item doesn’t have to be as originally intended in order to be valuable.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" style="width:700px;display:block" width="700"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1785752226018Laro Ceramics Pottery 4.jpg" style="width:700px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-rounded" width="700"/><span class="fr-inner">Beautiful pieces for sale at Laro Ceramics</span></span></span></div><p>Beyond the community studio, the therapeutic benefits of clay are also gaining ground in formal clinical settings. A <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28433887/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">study</a> of 106 adults suffering from major depressive disorder revealed that individuals who attended six sessions of clay art therapy showed higher rates of improvement on multiple depression scales when compared to the participants in the visual art therapy.</p><p>While a structured, clinically guided intervention should not be equated with a casual weekend class, nor should pottery be advertised as the cure for anxiety, depression, or trauma, the underlying mechanics remain the same. The real-world utility of clay lies in its natural ability to create a safe space for focus, patience, creativity, fun and communion.</p><div><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong>Pottery gives us permission to be beginners</strong></div><p>Perhaps one of the most beautiful gifts of pottery lies in the quiet <strong>permission to be bad at something</strong>. There is no pressure to master the wheel right away, monetize the craft, or turn every finished piece into content. Clay can just be felt, sculpted, broken, and made anew.</p><p>The final result does not have to be straight and well-made. Oftentimes, it can be completely different from what you had imagined in the first place. Ultimately, that is the whole philosophy of the craft: <strong>that not everything meaningful has to be flawless, and that not every mistake is meant to be hidden.</strong></p><div><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong></strong><em>Book a class at Laro Ceramics <a href="https://linktr.ee/laro_ceramics?utm_source=ig&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=link_in_bio&amp;fbclid=PAcGRvZgJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAachUwogF7OqTX51dfKNhO_wWudYHByXDMpNg5rBwl8tPCKDSsKszNoXwVWoIQ_aem_ptRsPqBibXMFukaiDp96mw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</em><strong></strong><strong></strong><br/></div>

<p>Find out why more and more people, especially Gen Z, are experimenting with pottery for more peace of mind</p>

Find out why more and more people, especially Gen Z, are experimenting with pottery for more peace of mind

Why Being Bad at Pottery May Be Good for Your Mental Health

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Why Being Bad at Pottery May Be Good for Your Mental Health

Chloe Herrera

Published August 03, 2026 06:00 PM PHT

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Updated August 03, 2026 06:22 PM PHT

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