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Pieces that hold their weight, kept around the kitchen for years.

Atelier Nova is a small studio in Marvila making slow, hand-thrown stoneware in seven shapes. We fire on Tuesdays. We sell what survives the kiln. We send what we sell ourselves.

Spring drop opens online Sunday, May 10 · Limited to 84 pieces.

Studio journal

From the kiln, the bench, and the post.

Letters from the studio and short notes between firings. Two channels, one page — kept current as we publish.

Latest from
Letters from the Atelier Bench Notes
Letters from the Atelier — Letter · 12 min

What we kept from the spring firing, and what cracked.

Eighty-four pieces went into the kiln on Tuesday. Seventy-one came out. The two losses I want to talk about are not the ones you would expect: a wide bowl that warped on the way down, and a low cup that was too good — a kind of accident I do not yet know how to repeat.

By Inês Carvalho · April 30 Read the letter →
Bench Notes — Note · 3 min

Why we are firing on Tuesdays for now.

The short answer is the bakery downstairs. The longer answer involves humidity, the freight schedule, and a conversation with our neighbour about a shared wall.

Apr 28 Read note →
Letters from the Atelier — Letter · 8 min

A glaze we are not putting in the spring drop.

It is the most beautiful thing we have made this year. It is also unstable across more than two pieces in a single firing. We are keeping it for our own kitchen until we understand it.

Apr 22 Read letter →
Bench Notes — Note · 2 min

"The clay from Caldas is back. It is not the same clay."

A short photograph and a longer than expected paragraph about why the new batch behaves differently on the wheel.

Apr 18 Read note →
Letters from the Atelier — Letter · 6 min

What we tell people who visit the studio.

Three things we always say, and one thing we have stopped explaining because the visitors who needed to hear it had already worked it out for themselves.

Apr 11 Read letter →
Bench Notes — Note · 1 min

"Photographing seven shapes against the same wall, in the same light, every season."

A small commitment we are making to ourselves, with one example from the autumn drop for comparison.

Apr 6 Read note →
Updates from two newsletters · Last refreshed today, 9:14 WEST Read the full journal →

About the studio

A two-person studio in Marvila, ten minutes from the river.

Atelier Nova was started by Inês Carvalho and Tiago Reis in 2021, in a converted ground-floor warehouse in Marvila. We make stoneware for daily use. We do not take wholesale orders. We answer our own emails.

Pieces are sold through small drops, four times a year, and through three shops we trust — in Lisbon, Porto, and Copenhagen.

— Inês & Tiago

A letter every other Tuesday.

From the kiln, the bench, and occasionally the freight desk. We send the letter ourselves. No drop sells out before the letter goes out.