Published October 2026
From Paula Armstrong
Picture this.
It’s a Friday evening in November. The Christmas lists are getting longer, the shops are getting busier and there’s that familiar feeling that December is approaching rather faster than you’d like.
But for the next couple of hours, none of that matters.
You’re sitting around a big wooden workbench in a ceramics studio in Fenstanton. There’s clay beneath your fingers, the earthy smell of the studio around you and a bowl of freshly whisked matcha waiting beside you.
Welcome to Matcha & Clay: A Festive Ritual.
This November, Paula Armstrong Ceramics is joining forces with local matcha experts Matchaeco to create an evening designed to be the antidote to a little of that festive madness.
We’ll begin with matcha.
Watch as vibrant green matcha is measured, whisked and transformed into a beautifully frothy drink. Learn about the ritual of making it, discover how to prepare it properly and taste it for yourself – including a warming festive cinnamon matcha.
Then, with matcha in hand, we move to the clay.
Feel it squash, stretch and change beneath your fingers as ceramic artist Paula Armstrong guides you through hand-building your own matcha bowl and whisk stand. There’s no template your work has to match and no expectation of perfection. You’ll learn the techniques you need and then be encouraged to play, experiment and make something that is unmistakably yours.
Three weeks later, you’ll return to the studio for another hour of creativity, choosing glazes and adding colour to your pieces before they disappear into the kiln one final time.
And before Christmas, it all comes together.
Your own ceramic matcha bowl. Your handmade whisk stand. A matcha whisk, matcha and the essentials supplied by Matchaeco. Everything you need to recreate that small moment of calm at home – perhaps exactly when Christmas gets busiest.
Two local experts. Two creative sessions. Just eight people. And a few hours in which the only thing on your to-do list is **sip, make and enjoy**.
Matcha & Clay: A Festive Ritual
Friday 20 November, 6:30–9pm
Glazing: Friday 11 December, 6:30–7:30pm
Paula Armstrong Ceramics, 5 Rookery Place, Fenstanton
£60 per person | Only 8 places
Come for the matcha. Stay for the clay. Take home a little ritual of your own.
Book your place at https://parmstrongceramics.co.uk/product/matcha-and-clay/