Cernamic: Clay, Community and a Small Oasis in London

If you walk into Cernamic on a busy evening, London suddenly feels quieter. Wheels are spinning, hands are deep in clay, and there is that soft concentration that happens when everyone is making something together. It feels less like a strict class and more like a shared studio, a small oasis tucked between train lines and traffic.

Cernamic is a pottery studio with three spaces in Stoke Newington, Deptford and Dalston, founded by ceramic artist Nam Tran with co-director Susi Huang. Their aim is simple but quite radical in London’s art world: to make ceramics feel genuinely open and welcoming, whether you are touching clay for the first time or coming every week as a member.

From Canary Wharf dreams to clay under the nails

Nam grew up in east London, in the shadow of Canary Wharf, with a very traditional picture of success in his head. The safe route would have been a stable corporate job. Instead, step by step, he found himself pulled towards clay, teaching and running studios in the corners of empty buildings.

He talks openly about the chaos behind that path. As an artist with ADHD, he was never taught how to run a business, yet found himself learning on the job how to manage bookings, schedules and a whole community of makers. The one thing that never felt in doubt was the material.

“Clay was the only thing that made sense to me,” Nam reflects. “I wanted to create a place where other people could have that feeling too.”

That feeling slowly became Cernamic.

Breaking down the gatekeeping around ceramics

Cernamic grew out of a frustration with how gatekept ceramics can be. Kilns disappearing from schools, expensive courses, and studios that feel intimidating if you did not grow up with art as an option.

Nam wanted the opposite. Taster classes in Dalston and Deptford are designed as fun, low-pressure ways to try the wheel or handbuilding. Longer courses and membership are there for people who want to go deeper, but the tone stays the same: curiosity over perfection.

“You should not need the right background or contacts to touch clay,” he says. “If you want to try, you belong here.”

Susi brings her own quiet strength to that vision. While Nam is drawn to big, bold forms, she has a careful eye for detail, glaze and design. Together, they have built what she calls a “community-led studio”, where regulars, tutors and new students all shape the space in small ways.

Why it feels like an oasis

What makes Cernamic special is not just the teaching, but the atmosphere. People arrive straight from work, from school, from crowded trains, and within minutes are focused on centring a lump of clay or carving patterns into a mug. Phones are away. Conversations drift between tables. There is room to be serious or silly, to push yourself or just enjoy a couple of hours off from everything else.

Nam sums it up simply:

“I want people to leave feeling lighter than when they came in.”

Looking ahead, he talks less about endless expansion and more about legacy. The hope is that Cernamic will stay a place where people from all kinds of backgrounds can learn, experiment and feel at home, even long after he and Susi step back from the day-to-day.

For now, if you are looking for a place to reset your brain, learn something new and be part of a small, friendly community, Cernamic is a very good place to start.

Check the video of the interview at @nova.esea

📍 Locations

Stoke Newington:

36a Windus Rd, London N16 6UP

Deptford:

2 Harton St, London SE8 4DQ

Dalston:

10-16 Ashwin St, London E8 3DL

👉 Instagram / website

Instagram: @cernamic

Website: https://www.cernamic.com/

Been to Cernamic and seen Bertie (the cute dog)? Share with us in the comments!

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