In August 2026, Belgium will become the beating heart of the international ceramics community. From 20 to 23 August 2026, a former industrial site will be transformed into a vibrant, multi-stage festival where fire meets form, creativity meets craft, and artists from around the world gather to celebrate one of humanity’s oldest and most tactile art forms: clay.
This is ClayZieFest: a bold new festival concept that brings the passion, energy, and community spirit of a music festival into the world of ceramics.
A New Kind of Festival for a Timeless Material
For decades, ceramics has often lived quietly in studios, classrooms, galleries, and workshops, deeply appreciated by those who understand its beauty, patience, and technical demands. ClayZieFest aims to shift that perception.
Here, ceramics takes center stage. It becomes live, physical, spectacular, and shared. “ClayZieFest is like a music festival, but for ceramics,” the organizers explain. “There are multiple stages, artists working simultaneously, and visitors are free to move between them, discovering new techniques, styles, and personalities at every turn.”
The result is a four-day experience that blends the intimacy of a ceramic studio with the energy of a live performance. It is immersive, interactive, and unique in Europe.
3 Stages, Endless Creativity
ClayZieFest is built around five key areas, each highlighting a different side of the ceramic process.
The Main Stage
The beating heart of the festival, the Main Stage will host large-scale demonstrations by international ceramic artists. Multiple camera angles and live projections on giant screens allow the audience to see every detail of the artist’s hands as they work.
Each session runs for several hours and combines technical explanation with the visual power of live making. In the evenings, the Main Stage comes alive with Back-to-Back Challenges, where artists push their creative boundaries in spontaneous, high-energy sessions.
The Performance Stages
On the Performance Stages, visitors can come close to the action. Artists create ambitious works over several days, allowing the audience to witness the full evolution of a piece, from a simple mound of clay to a monumental form.
Unlike traditional exhibitions, these performances are raw, real, and often unpredictable. Visitors can ask questions, observe techniques up close, and watch pieces grow and change in real time.
One of the highlights will be the creation of a large-scale Onggi vessel by Korean master Kwak Kyungtae, bringing the rhythm, strength, and tradition of this ancient Korean ceramic technique to the festival floor.
The Fire Stage
Outdoors, heat and spectacle take over. Custom-built kilns will be constructed and fired live throughout the festival, with Raku and Naked Raku performances creating dramatic moments of transformation.
Each firing reveals unique, one-of-a-kind pieces emerging from smoke, flame, and heat. The Fire Stage reminds visitors of the elemental connection at the heart of ceramics: earth, water, air, and fire.
The Partner Area & Market
In between performances, visitors can explore the Partner Area: a dynamic meeting place where ceramic suppliers, brands, and professionals present tools, materials, products, and expertise.
It is both a marketplace and a community hub, where professionals, students, hobbyists, and curious visitors can exchange ideas, discover new products, and connect through a shared passion for clay.
With food, drinks, and music woven throughout the festival site, the Partner Area captures the relaxed, social atmosphere of a true festival.
The Masterclass Studios
For those who want to go deeper, ClayZieFest offers six exclusive two-day masterclasses taught by internationally respected ceramic artists.
With limited spots available and hands-on access to the wheel, these masterclasses offer a rare opportunity to learn directly from leading artists in a focused and creative environment.
The masterclass program has attracted overwhelming interest. All masterclasses are currently sold out, with the exception of a few remaining spots in Kseniya Polyakova’s masterclass.
An International Line-Up of Ceramic Artists
The 2026 line-up brings together thirteen artists from across the world, each with their own voice, technique, and approach to clay.
From South Korea, ClayZieFest welcomes Kwak Kyungtae and Studio Sohman.
Kwak Kyungtae is known for his monumental Onggi vessels and will teach an exclusive masterclass while also creating a large Onggi piece on the Performance Stage. His work brings the rhythm, strength, and deep tradition of Korean Onggi-making into a live festival context.
Studio Sohman brings delicacy, discipline, and refined porcelain techniques to the festival. Their work balances technical precision with a quiet, contemporary sensitivity, offering visitors a glimpse into the beauty and complexity of porcelain craftsmanship.
Europe is represented by an exceptional roster of artists, including José Mariscal from Spain, Tom Kemp from the UK, Jean-François Thiérion from France, Denis Di Luca from Italy, and Eric Landon, also known as Tortus, from Denmark and Kseniya Polyakova.
José Mariscal is known for his speed, fluidity, and extraordinary control at the wheel. His masterclass on throwing special forms is already sold out, and his live demonstrations promise to be among the most dynamic moments of the festival.
Tom Kemp brings an experimental and conceptual approach to clay, combining technical skill of calligraphy with a strong sense of form, surface, and artistic inquiry.
Jean-François Thiérion will bring scale, presence, and physicality to the Performance Stage, creating monumental forms in front of the audience.
Denis Di Luca will contribute to the festival’s fire-based program with Raku and Naked Raku expertise, adding smoke, flame, and dramatic transformations to the festival experience.
Eric Landon, better known as Tortus, joins ClayZieFest from Denmark. With his calm, precise throwing style and internationally recognised ceramic practice, Tortus has inspired a global audience of makers and clay enthusiasts. His presence adds another strong European voice to the festival’s already diverse program.
Kseniya Polyakova brings a powerful approach to large-scale throwing, combining technical control with expressive, architectural forms. As the only remaining masterclass with a few spots available, her presence offers visitors a rare opportunity to experience ambitious wheel work up close on both the Main Stage and the Performance Stage.
Belgium itself is proudly represented by Aster Caemaert, Margot Thyssen, Rudie Delanghe, Nora Nuyts, and Anja Meeusen, each showing the strength and diversity of Belgian ceramic culture.
Aster Caemaert, will open the festival on Thursday showing her signature throwing techniques. Anja Meeusen is on the performance stage with her signature porcelain throwing performance, revealing the rhythm, repetition, and precision behind production throwing. Nora Nuyts will challenge herself on the Performance Stage, pushing the boundaries of her throwing skills over two days. Margot Thyssen, and Rudie Delanghe will each bring their own distinct approach to material, technique, and ceramic expression.
A Celebration of Collaboration
What makes ClayZieFest stand out is its collaborative spirit. It is not simply a showcase of individual talent. It is a collective experience.
Artists interact, exchange ideas, and work in close proximity. Visitors can move freely between simultaneous events, choosing their own route through the program, just as they would at a music festival.
Throughout the site, the creative process is visible to everyone. There is no distance between artist and audience. The act of making becomes the performance itself.
“ClayZieFest is about connection,” says the team behind the event. “Between people, between cultures, and between the elements: clay, water, air, and fire. It is about bringing the ceramic community together and showing that ceramics is not only craft. It is movement, energy, and emotion.”
Global Interest, Local Roots
Even before its first edition, ClayZieFest has already attracted international attention. Tickets have been sold to visitors from more than 22 countries, including the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Peru, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, and Turkey.
This mix of international participation and strong local organization gives the festival a unique identity: globally connected, yet deeply rooted in Belgian craftsmanship, hospitality, and community.
Belgium’s central location in Europe makes it an ideal setting for this gathering of artists, makers, collectors, professionals, students, and clay enthusiasts from around the world.
An Immersive Visitor Experience
ClayZieFest is designed for professionals and students, but also for hobbyists, art lovers, and curious newcomers.
Visitors can spend the morning watching demonstrations on the Main Stage, explore the Partner Area at noon, catch a live firing in the afternoon, and end the day with an evening Back-to-Back Challenge.
The industrial festival site adds to the atmosphere. Its mix of raw materials, open space, and architectural character mirrors the transformation at the heart of ceramics itself: raw earth becoming something refined through heat, skill, and human touch.
Food and drinks from local vendors complete the experience, creating space to relax, connect, and recharge between demonstrations, performances, and firings.
Building the Future of Ceramics Festivals
ClayZieFest marks a significant moment in the evolution of how ceramics is shared and celebrated.
By combining education, performance, fire, community, and international exchange into one immersive environment, it redefines what a ceramics festival can be.
Rather than separating maker from audience, ClayZieFest invites everyone into the creative process. In doing so, it makes ceramics accessible, exciting, and alive.
“We want people to feel the rhythm of the wheel, the sound of the clay, the tension of the fire,” say the organizers. “Ceramics is physical, emotional, and universal. That is what ClayZieFest captures.”
Looking Ahead
With momentum already building and visitors travelling from across continents, ClayZieFest 2026 is set to become one of the most exciting new events in the world of ceramics and a proud moment for Belgian artistry on the global stage.
ClayZieFest 2026
20–23 August 2026
Belgium
Tickets and full program: www.clayziefest.com
Press & partnerships: hello@clayziefest.com
Instagram: @clayziefest
4 days. 6 masterclasses. 3 stages. 13 international ceramic artists. Infinite inspiration.
