Hawaii Potters' Guild

Category: Guild Also called: Hawai‘i Potters’ Guild; HPG; hawaiipottersguild.org Last checked: 2026-10-06

What it is

Hawaii Potters’ Guild (HPG) is a non-profit potters’ organization in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, “committed to the support and development of ceramic arts and crafts” (homepage). Our Story says HPG was founded in 1967 by potters who wanted an active center to “experience clay,” and describes it as a cooperative organization dependent on its members to operate and maintain its studio, with educational non-profit status. The studio sits on Church of the Crossroads grounds through an agreement with the church (Our Story). Members elect and serve on the Board of Directors, perform studio chores, and “sit the studio.” It is not a commercial teaching-studio brand and not a clay supply retailer.

Who it’s for

Adults (members must be 18+) on O‘ahu who want a member-run guild with 24-hour studio privileges, and students of all experience levels who take HPG’s 12-week handbuilding and wheel classes — three classes within two years is the path to membership. FAQs set a class minimum age of 8 (ages 8–12 only with a parent/guardian enrolled in the same class; 13–17 independently with instructor permission and a signed waiver). The studio is open only to registered students and members — no drop-in open studio, and visitors/guests are not allowed in the studio. Not a substitute for a retail clay warehouse: clay and supplies are sold only to current students and members.

Why it’s listed

This is the first-party Hawaii Potters’ Guild Squarespace domain (hawaiipottersguild.org) with a printed Bingham Street studio address, mailing address, phone, printed annual dues and membership requirements, and printed class tuition — not a scraped directory card.

• Contact / hours (Contact page + footer, checked 2026-10-06): Studio 2480 Bingham Street, Honolulu, HI 96826; mailing PO Box 283340, Honolulu, HI 96828; (808) 941-8108. Hours: Students 9am – 9pm; Members always open. No public email printed on Contact (web form only); FAQs name hello.hawaiipottersguild@gmail.com as the registration-notice sender.
• Membership (Become a Member, checked today): open to persons who promote HPG’s goals and meet requirements — (1) take three classes in a period of two years; (2) demonstrate understanding of studio rules and procedures; (3) pay annual membership dues of $50 (mid-year dues $25). Qualified students contact the Studio Administrator; current members renew online. Privileges: studio use 24 hours per day (except during class periods); shelf space while studio-use fees or tuition are paid; reduced class and studio-use fees; can buy six clay bags per 12-week term (students five; both limited to three in interim periods); priority/discounts for HPG workshops and events; right to run for and vote in Board elections. Obligations: chores, occasional HPG activities (pot sales, fundraising, outreach), sitting the studio if not taking a class, abide by Guild policies. Members must be 18+ and pay studio-use or class fees in addition to dues (except on leave of absence). Studio-use fee dollar amount is not stated on the public Become a Member page — do not invent it.
• Classes (Classes / Register page, checked today): handbuilding and wheel classes for all levels; each session 12 weeks, meeting once a week for three hours. Tuition $275 per term ($250 for HPG members). Students must buy clay from HPG — $25–$68 per 25 lb bag, including glazes and firing; no outside clay. Open studio for students at no extra charge generally Monday–Sunday 9AM–9PM when no class/workshop is in session. Attendance of 8 of 12 classes needed for priority registration next session. Fall 2026 registration window printed: opens July 6, priority/lottery sign-ups through July 10 / July 12, all class registration closing July 18.
• Sessions / registration (FAQs, checked today): sessions generally run Winter (Jan–Mar), Spring (Apr–Jun), Summer Interim (Jun–Aug), Fall (Aug–Nov), Winter Interim (Nov–Jan); regular sessions 12 weeks, interims 8 weeks (non-instructional sitting periods for members and students who have taken at least one class). Registration is online; current students/members get priority (same time slot up to three sessions); remaining seats are filled by random lottery, with selections emailed from hello.hawaiipottersguild@gmail.com and 48 hours to pay. Registration is not transferable. Most studio glazes are cone 10, with a small selection of cone 6 glazes and underglazes.
• Workshops (Workshops page, checked today): listed workshops included Surface Conversations glazing workshop by Daven Hee ($35, sold out), Forming Ideas ceramic sculpture workshop by Jake Boggs ($100, sold out), Surface Decoration Techniques by Minami Cheever ($25, sold out), and Onggi and Porcelain Carving Demo by Adam Field ($50). Dates were not shown on the index cards at check.
• Events / programs (Our Story + Raku Ho‘olaule‘a 2026 page, checked today): Empty Bowl Hawai‘i fundraiser (started 2009); Building with Clay educational outreach (since 2010); Ceramics of Hawaii statewide juried exhibition (2017, 50th anniversary). HPG organized a member group for Raku Ho‘olaule‘a 2026 (March 16–22, 2026, presented by Hawaii Craftsmen at Camp Mokuleia) with an HPG fee of $60 and an all-meals package of $86.

Dues, tuition, and clay figures above are what the official pages showed on the check date. Confirm current term dates, seats, and fees on the live Classes and Become a Member pages before treating any figure as fixed.

Official URL

https://www.hawaiipottersguild.org/

Become a Member: https://www.hawaiipottersguild.org/become-a-member

Classes / Register: https://www.hawaiipottersguild.org/classes

Our Story: https://www.hawaiipottersguild.org/our-story

Contact: https://www.hawaiipottersguild.org/contact

Workshops: https://www.hawaiipottersguild.org/workshops-events

FAQs: https://www.hawaiipottersguild.org/faqs

(Canonical first-party Squarespace site checked 2026-10-06. Homepage, Become a Member, Classes, Our Story, Contact, and Workshops each returned HTTP 200 to curl with a normal browser User-Agent; FAQs loaded via WebFetch. Squarespace intermittently returns HTTP 429 rate-limit responses to repeated automated requests from one IP — a throttle, not a dead page; a later re-check from the same box hit 429 on most pages.)

Location

Hawaii Potters’ Guild studio: 2480 Bingham Street, Honolulu, HI 96826. Mailing: PO Box 283340, Honolulu, HI 96828. (808) 941-8108. Hours: Students 9am–9pm; Members always open.

This is a member potters’ association / nonprofit cooperative guild with a communal studio and class program. It is not filed as a commercial teaching studio or a supply house. Studio access is a guild membership/student benefit.

Notes

• Category is Guild: nonprofit cooperative member organization, annual dues, member obligations (chores, studio sitting, sales), Board elections. Classes and clay sales are guild programs for students/members — not a separate commercial studio brand or retail supplier.
• First Hawai‘i listing on Clay Plaza in any category. Away from Mon SC/CO/AZ, Fri OR/PA/FL, and Thu TX/MI/MN geos. Distinct from Hawaii Craftsmen (separate organization that presents Raku Ho‘olaule‘a) and from already-listed Potters’ Guild of Baltimore / Potters Guild of New Jersey / Northern Colorado Potters’ Guild despite similar “Potters’ Guild” naming. Keep separate from Lapidary / Mahjong / Bee / Bonsai directories.
• Events page at check still showed only past items (latest Empty Bowl, Sat Sep 27, 2025, Hawaii Convention Center); no upcoming fall 2026 events listed there.
• Our Story contains a placeholder (“raised more than $xx,000”) for Empty Bowl totals — do not cite a dollar figure.
• Studio-use / independent-sitting fee amounts and the full current class schedule were not captured on public pages at check (Schedule and Supplies pages hit Squarespace 429 rate limits to automated fetch; FAQs and Classes were read via a second fetch path); do not invent them.
• Contact page prints no email (web form only); the FAQs print hello.hawaiipottersguild@gmail.com as the registration-notice sender.
• Dues and tuition figures were transcribed from official pages checked on 2026-10-06 and may change.
• Not affiliated with Clay Plaza.
• No Clay Plaza contact, purchase, registration, or publication action was taken.
• First-party wordmark saved beside this listing as hawaii-potters-guild.png (HPG-Logo-Black from hawaiipottersguild.org Squarespace CDN, converted to PNG, 750 × 126).

FAQ

Q: How do I become a member and what are the dues?
A: Become a Member (checked 2026-10-06): take three classes within two years, show you understand studio rules, and pay annual dues of $50 ($25 mid-year). Members must be 18+ and also pay studio-use or class fees. Contact the Studio Administrator via the Contact page once qualified.

Q: What do classes cost?
A: Classes page (checked today): 12-week sessions, one 3-hour meeting per week, $275 per term ($250 members). Clay must be bought from HPG at $25–$68 per 25 lb bag including glazes and firing; students get open studio generally Mon–Sun 9AM–9PM when no class is running. Confirm the live schedule.

Q: Is Hawaii Potters’ Guild a commercial studio or a supplier?
A: Neither as its Clay Plaza category. It is a nonprofit cooperative potters’ guild (since 1967) with a member-run studio and class program. For retail clay and equipment use a Supplier listing.