Kiln Klub is an open-access ceramic studio offering drop-in sessions and a supportive membership programme. Kiln Klub events are designed to welcome people of all backgrounds and abilities, serve as a platform for experimental sculpture, and invite participants to explore The Pipe Factory’s heritage through clay and ceramic processes.
Kiln Klub is led by artist Ezra Berrnico.
Cataloguing
Building an archive that belongs to everyone.
The archive uses a multi-standard approach to cataloguing, drawing on established systems including the National Pipe Archive standard for clay pipes, ISAD-G for paper archives and SPECTRUM for collections and objects.
Rather than applying a single hierarchy, this approach opens up connections between community and local archives across both sites and creates a wealth of metadata that reflects the full breadth of what is held.
Don't know what any of that means? Come along to an open event and find out.
Archive and Research Circle
Regular sessions for drop-in research, hands-on learning and collective exploration. The programme runs fortnightly archive and research meet-ups across both sites, where you can drop in without missing anything.
Both the Pipe Factory and Barrowfield Weaving Factory archives are also open by appointment throughout the week for those who want to explore the collections or volunteer on their own terms.
Across its run, the programme adapts to the needs and interests of its participants, with collective learning at the heart of how it develops.
Volunteering
Volunteering with the archive is open to everyone, whatever your background or experience. Across the Pipe Factory and Barrowfield Weaving Factory, you might catalogue collections, carry out social or historical research, or simply explore topics that interest you.
With no set structure, you can dip in and out, work independently or alongside others, and receive one-to-one support whenever you need it.
The skills on offer are wide-ranging, and the person-led approach means your involvement benefits both you and the archive as a whole.
Special Events
Alongside the regular programme, special events offer a chance to explore specific skills or themes in more depth, drawing on the distinct histories and collections of both the Pipe Factory and the Barrowfield Weaving Factory.
Past and upcoming events have included a two-day saggar firing workshop with ceramicist Fionn Duffy, archive box sessions with Juju Books, history talks with Peter Mortimer, and a collage workshop drawing on the archive's visual materials.
Keep an eye on what's on for the latest.
Drop in Workshops for Anyone.
Open days, workshops, artist residencies and more.
Join the studio. Access to a fully equipped ceramics space, two days a week.
Find us in the Barras area of Glasgow's East End. Click here for more info on location, hours, access.
[get involved]
Workshops
A curated programme of sessions with guest artists, using ceramics as a starting point for sound, performance, reading and play.
Studio Hire
The kiln is available for one-off external firings. Get in touch at kilnklub@strangefield.org for rates and availability.
Work With Us
Kiln Klub's lead artist Ezra Bernico is available to collaborate on one-off workshops and community group sessions. Get in touch at kilnklub@strangefield.org to discuss your project.
Membership
Kiln Klub membership offers affordable, sustained access to a fully equipped ceramics studio at The Pipe Factory, a space to develop a practice, pursue a research project, or simply make. Members receive open studio access two days a week (12 hours) with use of pottery wheels, a slab roller, hand-building and glazing tools, personal shelf space, and regular kiln firings. There are also opportunities to run your own workshop and sell work at the Barras Market.
£40 per month. Payment in advance, managed via our subscription service. One month’s notice required to cancel. Start on your first day.
We also offer a Supporter membership at £80 per month, which creates a free place for someone who needs it. Low income or studying? Get in touch at kilnklub@strangefield.org to discuss a discount.
Sign up to become a member here.
Drop In Sessions
Kiln Klub Open Days are free, drop-in sessions open to everyone.
This may vary from a more laid back, drop in, ‘making’ sessions to a more developed and guided workshops.
No experience needed, no booking required. Come and make something.
sign up to our mailing list or keep an eye on our what's on page for upcoming dates.
Curated Workshops
Kiln Klub Workshops are a curated programme of free, ticketed sessions developed in collaboration with artists, using ceramics as a starting point for sound, performance, reading, writing and play. Each invited artist brings their own research and practice into the studio, asking what it means to make, teach and think with clay.
Our 2025/26 guest artists include Listen Gallery, Josie Ko, Emily Speed, Scottish Working Class Network, Rae-Yen Song, Jack Y Tan and Sarah Rose.
All sessions are free and open to the public. Places are limited, check What’s On to book and to find out more about our 2026/27 sessions.
Residency
Kiln Klub’s current artist in residence is Hussein Mitha, whose research project The Caryatids is a creative nonfiction, genre-hybrid work drawing on art history, photography, ceramics, sculpture, prose-poetry and anti-colonial research. Working across the city with photographers, sculptors, architects, historians and workshop participants, Hussein is developing a body of work that examines the socio-historical and architectural life of Glasgow’s caryatids.
The residency will culminate in a publication and exhibition at The Pipe Factory in spring 2027.
Our residency provides support, facilities and opportunities for collaboration in our curated workshop programme, get in touch if you would like to find out more.
