THE INTENTIONAL CUP WITH EMMA SMITH

Il Baciarino, Tuscany

April 13 - 22, 2027 (10 days)

I have been thinking about cups for as long as I have been making them. Not as a category of object — as a problem. A deeply interesting, endlessly revisitable, never-quite-solved problem.

A cup that works is not an accident. It is the result of a series of decisions, each one deliberate, each one in service of the same thing: the moment when someone picks it up and it feels exactly right in their hand.

That is what this retreat is about. Not making cups. Making cups that work.

Emma Smith returns to Il Baciarino in April 2027 for ten days devoted entirely to functional ceramics — specifically, to the cup in all its forms and all its possibilities. Emma's approach to teaching is rooted in the belief that intention and craft are not separate things. A beautiful cup and a functional cup are the same cup, when the maker has thought carefully enough about both.

What We Make

The cup is the most daily of ceramic objects and the most demanding. It is picked up dozens of times a day, held close to the face, pressed to the mouth. Every decision the maker makes is felt — the weight, the balance, the way the rim meets the lip, the way the handle sits in the hand, the way the foot lifts the cup from the table and gives it presence.

Over ten days we work through the full range of cup forms — espresso cups, tea bowls, tall mugs, handled cups, lidded cups — with Emma's focus always on the decisions underneath the making. Why this rim thickness and not another. Why this handle attachment and not that one. Why this foot, this weight, this proportion.

We also think about specificity. A coffee cup is not a tea cup. A cup for cold water on a hot afternoon is not a cup for something you want to hold in both hands and drink slowly. Each is its own problem with its own beautiful solution, and the retreat gives you enough time to go deep into several of them rather than skimming across all of them.

The retreat culminates in a wood kiln firing — Cantico, the kiln Emma built on this land in 2023, which by the time you leave will feel in some way also yours.

About Emma

Emma Smith is a multi-award-winning Canadian ceramic artist living and working in Jerseyville, Ontario. Her wood-fired functional ceramics are made to be used and lived with — quietly providing utility for a shared meal, embracing the weight of everyday ritual. She studied at Sheridan College and Haliburton School of the Arts and apprenticed with Gleasonbrook Pottery before opening her own studio. She teaches workshops across North America and exhibits internationally.

Her cups are the kind you do not want to put down.

emmasmithceramics.com

A Typical Day

Studio mornings with Emma — demonstration, focused making, and the kind of critique that sharpens rather than deflates. Afternoons that open toward the land and the sea. Evenings at the table.

The firing day is its own event — early start, the long arc of stoking and waiting, then the opening. The cups you fire in Cantico will carry the marks of the wood and the ash and the particular atmosphere of that firing. No two will be alike, even if you made them to be identical. That is the collaboration between maker and fire, and it is one of the things that makes wood-fired functional ceramics unlike anything else.

Who This Retreat Is For

The Intentional Cup is for ceramicists who want to think more carefully about functional form — potters at any level who are ready to slow down and go deeper into a single object rather than making a range of things quickly. Previous throwing experience is helpful but not required. What Emma is teaching is not just technique — it is a way of thinking about what a cup needs to do and how to make the decisions that serve that.

Six participants maximum.

2027 Dates and Price

April 13–22, 2027

€2,600 per person — all inclusive. This covers all tuition, all clay and materials, all meals and drinks, all day trips and cultural excursions, and pick-up and drop-off from Grosseto train station.

Accommodation

All accommodation is on the property at Il Baciarino, forty minutes from the sea in the hills of the Maremma.

La Pesca sits at the top of the property with a large deck and an open main living area. It sleeps four across two levels — each of the four bedrooms has its own charms and are individually priced from €540 to €720 for the nine nights.

La Medea (€990), La Dolce Vita (€1260), La Quercia (€1260), and La Rondine (€1320) are smaller cottages suited to those who want more privacy.

To Book

Write to Chandra directly. She will hold a place for you and you can sort the details from there.

Not sure whether your throwing is developed enough for this retreat? Write and ask. That is exactly the kind of question worth asking before you book.