CUP CeramicsCommunity

CUP Ceramics Community occupies Unit 10 on the Foley Trading Estate in Hereford, an open-access pottery studio founded by Col Hamilton as a community interest company. The studio holds electric wheels, hand-building tables, a slab roller and two kilns firing to 950C for bisque and 1240C for glaze, alongside a small clay and glaze shop. Members can buy standard studio access, a shared membership, or work a time exchange in place of a fee; short courses, private bookings and children's sessions run alongside open studio hours. Concession pricing gives a 15 per cent discount to students and people on benefits. As a CIC, profits are reinvested into community and wellbeing programmes rather than distributed to shareholders, and staff technicians mentor members working on their own pieces.