Terms and Conditions
Please ensure you have read and understood these Terms and Conditions before booking your session. By booking or attending sessions you are deemed to have read, understood and accepted them.
T&Cs as follows:
The terms and conditions set out the terms by which London Clay provides services and allows a person to become a member of the London Clay Pottery Studio. Please review these carefully to make sure you understand them. If you do not agree with the terms, please do not become a member of the London Clay Pottery Studio.
Contract of sale:
Unfortunately we do not accept refunds at London Clay but would consider changing the name of the person who originally signed up.
Classes, courses and drop ins are all booked on a first come first served basis.
Payment:
Full payment of the course or class should be made in advance. It is not possible to attend the session until payment has been received.
Cancellation policy:
Cancellations must be made via email to studio@londonclay.uk 48 hours before your booking starts. Cancellations less than 48 hours before any given booking will be charged an admin cancellation fee.
If a course or class is cancelled by London Clay, we will offer you alternative options.
Once you have committed to a course, class or membership we recommend that you attend the scheduled courses, classes or allocated time slots in order to make the most out of your classes, courses or sessions. If a participant fails to attend all of their classes or sessions, or for no shows, the full fees are payable and we cannot guarantee full or partial transfer dates.
Transfer dates:
Transfer date requests for alternative days must be made in writing via email to studio@londonclay.uk 7 days before the class date starts based on availability.
There are no guarantees that suitable alternatives will be available. Any transfer requests are valid for 1 year from the start of the original booking date. Beyond 1 year, they will be void of transfer. Requests for subsequent transfers will be considered as course or class cancellations. We do not accept returns.
Course content:
In order to provide a high quality service, London Clay reserve the right to change the timings, dates or instructor depending on circumstances that are beyond London Clay’s control.
Course cancellations:
London Clay reserve the right to cancel up to and including the date of the course or classes, if there are insufficient bookings but please do be rest assured that we will do all we can to avoid this happening. We will always give as much notice as is possible based on the circumstances at the time.
If however this unfortunate situation occurs, we will give you the opportunity to reschedule to other alternative dates if available, or a full refund.
London Clay will not be held accountable for any losses or expenses incurred from any amendments to the sessions or cancellations.
Late attendees:
It is the responsibility of those attending any classes or courses to arrive ahead or on time for their booking. It will be down to the discretion of the tutor not to accept late arrivals, if it is detrimental to the stage that the rest of the participants of that class/course are at. In this case, it will be treated as a cancellation which is non refundable.
Membership:
A person will only become a member once their registration and application form has been accepted by London Clay and in doing so, that member will have agreed to the London Clay Terms and conditions. Accepted memberships will only be activated upon receipt of payment in full for a minimum of 2 months.
If after that 2 month period a member would like to extend their membership, please advise us by email 1 month before the end of the membership contract, in order to secure a position along with payment in full. Failure to do so may result in the loss of your membership space and you will be required to remove all of your stored items with immediate effect, in order for London Clay to facilitate a new member.
Subject to any statutory right of cancellation, payments for memberships, courses and classes are non refundable unless stated in our T&Cs. All members will then have 12 hours per week of studio time to use any unused hours which cannot be carried over.
Each member will have the facility to log into their account via www.londonclay.uk in order to book and use their allocated weekly 12 hours Monday to Sunday 10am to 9pm weekdays, and 10am to 6pm weekends, based on available spaces.
All membership fees must be paid in full irrespective of whether a member may or may not use the studio.
All fees may be increased at the discretion of London Clay and members will be given 2 weeks’ notice of any increases.
Members will be allowed to use the shared kiln and will need to factor in firing their work based on kiln scheduling as part of their membership. Each member will have 2 shelves allocated to them to store their work, materials and equipment, which measure 100cmx30cm each.
They will also have access to the studio glazes. However if you would like to use your own glazes, please provide us with the relevant details of the glaze you would like to use along with a test sample of the glaze, as any damage caused to the kiln will result in that member paying a repair fee. If a member would like the kiln for exclusive firing, please consult with the technician for the availability and scheduling of this. The charge for an exclusive firing will be an additional £50. Members will have access to our 3 studio clays @ £2 per kg.
A member may not attend any classes or courses hosted by London Clay without paying and booking for the relevant session.
Members are allowed to use the studio's facilities in accordance with our terms and conditions. However London Clay reserve the right without notice to temporarily close access to these facilities for cleaning, maintenance, repairs or any other reason.
Neither London Clay or any staff are responsible for personal belongings or any works being damaged, lost or stolen.
Although we work hard to minimise any damage, it is inevitable that once in a while in a busy studio, some work will get damaged.
Members cannot bring guests without permission of the owner. If permission is granted (at the owner’s discretion) a guest pass can be bought for an additional fee.
Being a small studio, respect and consideration to all should be adhered to at all times when working in the space. Any sort of abusive behaviour will NOT be tolerated.
London Clay reserve the right to vary opening times around bank holidays, festive periods and private events, which will be detailed on the website as and when. We ask that everyone attending respect these schedules.
Health & Safety:
Health and safety is paramount to the successful running of any studio/workshop and all participants are asked to adhere to these rules of practise, which will be outlined upon joining as either a member, or participating in one of our day classes, or evening courses. Failure to do so will result in the termination of a class/course
participant or member.
Members who are accepted must be self-sufficient with the understanding of general health and safety rules, whilst being respectful and conscientious towards others using the space at the same time.
Keep all surfaces clean of clay and glazes to minimise the hazards of breathing in clay and glaze dust.
No food is permitted in the studio at any time, but we have a seating area outside the studio where people can take their lunch breaks etc.
On occasions there may be the need to use heat guns to speed up the hardening process of the clay, in order to handle it. Always ask to use the heat guns and for those who are familiar with using them, the tutor/technician will help assist and advise on how to use them.
Please keep all electrics away from the wet area/sinks.
There is one main entrance/exit. In the unlikely event of a fire, people will be guided out by a staff member to a safe place in the courtyard.
We have a unisex bathroom with wheelchair access.
Alcohol and smoking is not permitted in the studio nor are people who turn up intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. Anyone who does so, will be removed with their membership suspended or terminated at the discretion of London Clay.
We have a Nabertherm 140ltr kiln which can be operated by the attending technician only. Due to high costs of energy along with environmental issues, we ask that you only fire what you want to keep. London Clay staff reserve the right to reject items they feel should not be fired, if there is a risk of that item damaging other pieces in the kiln or the kiln itself.
We have 6 Shimpo wheels and plenty of table areas for hand building etc.
We also have various aprons for people to use. Those who like to use their own aprons by all means feel free to bring them, along with any tools you like to use, but please keep these in a safe place so other users don’t pick them up by mistake.
London Clay will not be held responsible for the loss of anyone’s personal items.
We stock 3 clays all of which fire to stoneware temperatures but one is also able to fire to earthenware temperatures.
We provide banding wheels and plenty of various hand tools. Please be considerate when using these as others may also want to do so. Always return equipment to their rightful places so they can be found by the next user.
If you see tools on a shelf, these will belong to members who will be storing them on their shelves along with their work. Please do not ever help yourself and if you’re unsure, always ask the tutor/technician.
Always tie long hair back, make sure apron strings are tied and not loose. Any loose or hanging clothes such as scarves should be made safe and secure when working on the wheel.
Working on a wheel can be messy, so please wear items of clothing that you don’t mind getting dirty.