About Us

Bandicoot Pottery, located in a beautiful bushland setting, prioritises environmental responsibility through practices like using energy-efficient kilns, reclaiming clay, and sourcing materials locally.

 

Bandicoot Pottery offers engaging pottery workshops and serves as a training facility, providing potters with expert mentoring, skill development and enhancing the future of the ceramics industry.

 

Founded in 1990 by ceramicists Daniel Lafferty and Gabrielle Powell, Bandicoot Pottery was born from a passion for clay cultivated during our training in ceramics at the ANU Canberra School of Art.

 

In 2020, following the devastating Black Summer Bushfires, we reimagined our studio and shifted our focus toward sustainability, which proved vital for our future. Our facilities have expanded to include a large training room, pottery wheels, a hand-building space, an undercover kiln, and a clay preparation area. We offer pottery workshops and classes in our community, allowing us to continue sharing our love for clay and building new connections.

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By 2023, we completed the Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard with Destination NSW, transforming our operations and reinforcing our commitment to environmental responsibility. We prioritise sustainability by utilising energy-efficient kilns, reclaiming clay, and sourcing materials locally.

 

Nestled in bushland on the outskirts of Cobargo, our studio reduces "ceramic miles" by sourcing local clays and glaze materials. We utilise dried clay and blend it with local clay to create a specialised stoneware body. We source local glaze materials from road cuttings to make and prepare our 'wild', unique glazes, which reduce costs and transportation. Clay scraps are recycled, and reclaimed clay is reused or sold to students. Additionally, our packaging materials are repurposed from local shops, ensuring an eco-friendly shipping process.

 

Our 13 kW solar system significantly reduces electric firing costs, with most firings powered by solar energy. We also operate a wood-fired trolley kiln, which fires on waste by using black wattle and pine wood for kiln firing, collected from nearby properties. This further emphasises our commitment to sustainable practices.

 

Bandicoot Pottery specialises in handmade decorative ceramics and pottery homewares, and maintains our solar passive showroom gallery full of unique and original items. Our showroom gallery displays our work and offers visitors seasonal events, such as Open Studio during the October Long Weekend and the Annual Xmas Sale in December. The studio showroom is open by appointment due to irregular hours. We are in the studio daily, but it's always a good idea to confirm our availability before visiting.

 

At Bandicoot Pottery, we are building the ceramics industry in NSW by offering and fostering technical skills and education. Our studio welcomes everyone—children, youth, adults, and families interested in exploring pottery and purchasing beautiful handmade pieces. Our goal is to share the joy of ceramics by providing opportunities for creative expression, skill-building, and connections with like-minded individuals.

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Our studio is where we fulfil our dreams and passions for ceramics and you can too! Pottery is the perfect hobby for both children and adults. It is an experience that requires intense focus but allows your frustrations and worries to melt away. Whether you’re a beginner trying pottery for the first time or have some experience and want to refine your skills, we have a class for you. We host pottery workshops for all and have engaged in community recovery initiatives following the bushfires, including support for women and youth. As a training facility for the disARTster project with Charles Sturt University, we empowered rural youth to share their experiences related to climate challenges.

 

Bandicoot Pottery is dedicated to sustainability, community engagement, and fostering the next generation of ceramicists. We have been mentoring and sharing our expertise with other professional potters. We hosted a two-week residency program for three potters from Kil.n.it Ceramic Studios in Glebe. This initiative aimed to ensure the sustainability of the ceramic industry by imparting our knowledge of wood-firing ceramics to the next generation. Recently, we welcomed a young Melbourne potter to our studio for the inaugural Foster A Potter, a 10-month internship program in 2025. A ceramics graduate student from Olustvere School of Service and Rural Economics in Estonia is planning her 6-week Erasmus+ program at Bandicoot Pottery Cobargo, starting in July. This will build and widen her knowledge, skills and provde a new perspective on art and ceramics 

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We invite you to visit our pottery studio, explore our creative space, discover our little paradise in the Bega Valley, browse our treasures, and fall in love with us and our pottery. There will be plenty of delightful surprises for anyone interested in meeting creative makers in their workspace.

 

Bandicoot Pottery is committed to sustainability by recycling, reducing and upcycling to lower our studio's environmental footprint.

Daniel Lafferty & Gabrielle Powell 

Bandicoot Pottery

Cobargo NSW 2025

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