FOR JAPANESE TECHNIQUES

TOGEI KYOSHITSU 5 W. 30th St.; nytogei.com

UNLIKE MOST STUDIOS in New York, Togei Kyoshitsu teaches an Edo-period style of throwing in which potters use one big mound of clay to create multiple pieces in one sitting. (From $300.) The practice was perfected in Japan for faster production, but illustrator Gracey Zhang, who visits Togei three or four times a week, appreciates how it lets you “mess up and keep going. You realize you’re not going to throw a perfect piece every time.” Togei is run by Risa Nishimori, whose father opened it in 1994. The studio teaches Japanese throwing (the wheel spins clockwise, opposite to western ones) and kikuneri, a kneading technique to remove air from clay, and its tucked-away loft space is a respite from the city. “I work in an office where we have a lot of creativity going, but it’s more like the kitchen in the back of a busy restaurant,” says Alex Bolen, the CEO of Oscar de la Renta, who took a class after creative directors Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim recommended it. Togei, by contrast, “is tremendously quiet.”