Cave Clay

Explorations in clay · Northern Michigan

Cornelia Hoehle
works in clay.

A long, attentive exploration of form, surface, and weight — vessels and objects shaped one at a time, fired slowly, held to the standard of things made to last. Some of the work sits on the table. Some sits in the hand. All of it is part of an ongoing inquiry into what clay can be asked to do, and what it answers back. Cave Clay is the home for that work.

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A pinched stoneware coffee mug holding espresso, with a cream and warm-earth glaze on a wood surface.
Pinched coffee mug, ash glaze. Past work.

§ 01 · Forms

Vessels and objects, made one at a time.

Bowls, mugs, tea cups. Each piece is wheel-thrown or pinched, glazed, and fired in the studio. The work below is from past series — every piece shown here has already been collected. Use it as a sense of the language. If something speaks to you, the next step is a conversation.

Three stoneware bowls arranged on a wood floor: two green, one ivory with rust-brown lollipop motifs.
Three bowls in three glazesPast work · sold
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None of the work shown above is for sale. Each piece is shown as a reference for the kind of language Cornelia is working in. Available work will appear here when the studio is fully operational.

§ 02 · Lucky charms

Miniature forms in the netsuke tradition.

A continuing body of small ceramic objects — most around an inch wide — made in the netsuke tradition. Netsuke are the small carved pieces that originated in Edo-period Japan as toggles for the cords of a kimono sash: held in the pocket, warmed by the hand, looked at closely.

Cornelia’s miniatures are made at the traditional scale — small enough to hold, dense with detail, asking to be turned over. Bone, ivory, and wood have been the historical materials; her work is in porcelain and stoneware, fired in the studio.

She calls them lucky charms.

A grid of nine miniature ceramic forms, each about an inch wide, in greens, ivories and earth tones with carved interior details.
Lucky charms — miniatures, around 25mmPast work · sold
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A small lidded stoneware box with white combed slip lines over a warm earth-tone clay body.
Lidded box, combed slipPast work · sold
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Three small lidded ceramic vessels on a wooden shelf: two with green glaze, one square in cream.
Three small lidded vesselsPast work · sold
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§ 03 · Studio

A home studio in Northern Michigan, returning to full operation.

Cornelia is rebuilding her home ceramics studio at her farm. The studio will be operational within the week and is expected to be fully functional within about a month. New work — wheel time, glaze tests, the first runs of a new firing schedule — will surface here as it’s made.

In the meantime, the door is open for conversations. Commissions are being accepted and queued. Cornelia prefers to talk before agreeing to a piece, so she can give an honest answer on what the work asks for and when she can finish it.

Trained at the Harrow School of Art and Technology, United Kingdom.

§ 04 · Commissions

What you’re commissioning is the artist.

Cornelia accepts commissions at her own discretion and works in her own voice. She listens to who you are and what drew you to the work, then she goes to the wheel and makes what she makes. The form, the surface, the size, the glaze — those are her decisions.

Payment is in full before work begins. There are no drafts and no edits, and the work is final once it’s made. If that sounds right, the next step is a short call or an email.

How commissions work →or