A Quick Look
- Studio Matisse has spent the past few years turning a small pottery studio into something closer to a creative home base, founded by Vea Montemayor, with co-owners Lyra Quiroz and Michelle Co back in 2023.
- What began as wheel throwing and hand-building classes has grown into something bigger: workshops for hobbyists, recurring programs with schools, and full-scale team-building days for companies looking for something different.
- The studio’s hands have been in some interesting places, custom ceramics for restaurant tables, a retail brand activation with over a hundred hand-painted pieces, and collaborations that include names like Adidas and UNIQLO.
- At the center of it all is a simple idea the founders keep coming back to: people don’t just come here to make something, they come here to make something together.
A Creative Space Built Around Clay
On the third floor of a building along Missouri Street in Greenhills, San Juan, a pottery studio has spent the past few years turning wet clay into something that looks a lot like community. Studio Matisse opened in 2023, founded by Vea Montemayor, with co-owners Lyra Quiroz and Michelle Co, starting with wheel throwing and hand-building classes for anyone curious about the craft. It has since grown into something wider: a creative experiences company that brings people together through art, whether that means an individual trying a pottery wheel for the first time, a company running a team-building session, or a brand looking for a hands-on way to meet its customers.
That growth tracks with a broader shift. More people are looking for experiences that build connection and offer a break from screens, not just another thing to buy, and hands-on creative activities have become one of the clearer answers to that. A pottery studio built around that idea from day one is standing in exactly the right spot for it.
Inside the Studio: A Pottery Studio Built for More Than Classes
Studio Matisse runs on a reservation-only model, no walk-ins. Bookings go through studiomatisse.ph or directly through the studio’s Instagram and Facebook pages. The weekday schedule runs 9:00 AM to 12:00 NN and 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, while weekends open earlier and run later, with a 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM evening slot reserved for wheel throwing.
Class sizes shift depending on the craft. Hand-building sessions take up to 12 participants at a time, while wheel throwing, which needs closer one-on-one attention, is capped at 6. For those who have outgrown the beginner track, intermediate workshops are offered as one-on-one sessions with an instructor.
Beyond the Wheel: Corporates, Schools, and Brands
Group and corporate bookings work on a different scale entirely. At the studio, workshops run 10 to 30 participants at a time. Off-site sessions go much bigger, up to 70 to 100 people, built specifically for corporate team building, employee wellness programs, schools, and special events. That off-site capacity says something about how this pottery studio positions itself: not just a weekend stop for hobbyists, but a business set up to run a full company outing from start to finish.
The client history backs that up. Studio Matisse has worked with restaurants on custom handcrafted ceramic pieces designed for specific dining concepts, partnered with schools and preschools on recurring art programs, and taken on corporate clients for team-building days and custom corporate gifts. For one retail brand’s store launch, the studio prepared more than 110 custom ceramic pieces for guests to paint as part of an interactive activation, turning a product launch into something people could sit down and take part in rather than just watch. Local partners on that list include Liyab Restaurant and Restaurant Flow, and the studio’s brand work has also included names like Adidas and UNIQLO.
Why the Studio Keeps Its Focus on the Experience
“At Studio Matisse, we believe everyone has the desire to create,” say Co, Montemayor, and Quiroz. “We exist to help people reconnect with their creativity through art and leave with more than just a finished piece. They leave with a meaningful experience, a new skill, and the joy of creating something with their own hands.”
That framing shows up in how the founders talk about the studio: less a business selling pottery classes, more a place handing people a slower, more hands-on way to spend two hours, or an afternoon, or a full company offsite. The studio has also picked up outside recognition along the way, including a feature on Bilyonaryo’s The Daily Dish, a nod for a business still only a few years into its run.
Ask anyone who has spent an afternoon at Studio Matisse what they walked away with, and the answer is rarely just a bowl or a mug. It’s the two hours spent shaping something with their own hands, the coworkers who ended up laughing through a wheel-throwing session together, or the custom piece a restaurant now sets on its tables every day. That’s the actual product here: not the ceramics, but the time people spend making them.
To Book:
Find Studio Matisse at studiomatisse.ph, or on Instagram and Facebook
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