Objects for connection. Experiences for remembering.

We are all makers —
of cups, meals, gardens,
and lives.

The most meaningful experiences come home with us, becoming part of the rhythm of everyday life.
A handmade cup, bowl, spoon, or simple mark can become a vessel for memory — the place, the conversation, the hands that shaped it, and the feeling of time spent on Block Island.
A cup of water by the bed. A morning coffee. An evening tea. A bowl passed around the table. A small object that quietly remembers.
The moments end on the island. The feelings remain.

Make Something to Remember

Make Your Own Cup
Make Your Own Spoon Pair
Make Your Own Bowl / Vessel
Make Your Mark
Each experience may be reserved as a semi-private session or arranged privately for your own gathering, party, or celebration.
For private gatherings, parties, and celebrations, please reach out to oxum@oxumnyc.com so we can shape the experience around your group, location, and occasion. Private experiences may be hosted at your home or rental, at select locations around the island, or at OXUM’s private Block Island studio.

Make Your Own Cup

A Block Island experience in making, slowing down, and connection.

We’ll begin with a short guided meditation — just enough to help you land, breathe, and become present before you begin. From there, you’ll spend 2.5–3 hours designing and hand-building your own porcelain cup using OXUM’s in-house slab technique.

No experience is needed. You’ll learn the fundamentals of creating functional tableware by hand while working with English porcelain, colored porcelain slip, and a curated range of OXUM glazes. Along the way, enjoy homemade refreshments, non-alcoholic drinks, and the quiet pleasure of making something by hand in good company.

Each participant will create one cup, made for real life and safe for both the dishwasher and microwave once fired. After the experience, OXUM will finish, glaze, and fire your piece.

Completed work will be ready for pickup or shipping approximately 2–3 weeks later. You’ll leave with the memory of the day, the experience of making something from scratch, and soon after, a one-of-a-kind cup made by you.

Experience Details

  • Class level: All levels
  • Age requirement: 16 and older
  • Maximum class size: 6
  • Duration: 2.5–3 hours
  • Location: Block Island, RI

Included

  • English porcelain
  • Colored porcelain slip
  • Exclusive OXUM glazes
  • Use of tools and apron
  • Firing of your finished piece
  • Homemade refreshments and non-alcoholic drinks
  • One hand-built cup made by you

Wear clothes that can get a little messy.

Make Your Own Spoon Pair

A Block Island experience in nourishment, making, and the small objects that bring people to the table.

There are many kinds of spoons, and almost as many uses. Spoons can be units of measure — teaspoons, tablespoons. They can be collected as souvenirs, played as instruments, or passed down through families. But at their most essential, spoons represent access to nourishment: a warm cup of soup, a bowl of oatmeal, a simple dish of rice and beans.

And then there are serving spoons — the mother of table utensils — made for sharing.

In this experience, you’ll create a pair of hand-built serving spoons. We’ll begin with a short guided meditation to help you slow down and arrive, then look at simple forms, gestures, and inspiration before working with clay. With guidance, you’ll shape, refine, and finish a spoon pair made for your own table.

No experience is needed. The process is simple, tactile, and surprisingly satisfying. Along the way, enjoy homemade refreshments, non-alcoholic drinks, good conversation, and the pleasure of making something useful with your hands.

After the experience, OXUM will finish, glaze, and fire your pieces. Completed work will be ready for pickup or shipping approximately 2–3 weeks later.

You’ll leave with the memory of the day, the experience of making something from scratch, and soon after, a one-of-a-kind spoon pair ready for future dinners, shared dishes, and very legitimate bragging rights.

Experience Details

  • Class level: All levels
  • Age requirement: 16 and older
  • Maximum class size: 6
  • Duration: 2–2.5 hours
  • Location: Block Island, RI

Included

  • Stoneware clay
  • Firing of your finished pieces
  • Homemade refreshments and non-alcoholic drinks
  • One hand-built spoon pair made by you
  • Future reasons to brag when you use them at your table

Wear clothes that can get a little messy.

Make Your Own Bowl / Vessel

A Block Island experience in building slowly, shaping by hand, and creating something for the table.

We’ll begin with a warm welcome, homemade refreshments, non-alcoholic drinks, and a short guided meditation to help you settle in before you begin making. From there, you’ll spend 2.5–3 hours creating your own bowl or vessel by hand using a simple coil-building technique.

No experience is needed. This process is one of the oldest ways of working with clay: building from the ground up, one coil at a time. You’ll shape, build, and refine your piece while exploring form, texture, surface, and the quiet rhythm of making something with your hands.

Each participant will create one functional bowl or vessel. Your piece may become a cereal bowl, fruit bowl, rice bowl, or small vessel for the table — something useful, personal, and made by you.

After the experience, OXUM will finish, glaze, and fire your piece. Completed work will be ready for pickup or shipping approximately 2–3 weeks later.

You’ll leave with the memory of the day, the experience of making something from scratch, and soon after, a one-of-a-kind bowl or vessel made by you.

Experience Details

  • Class level: All levels
  • Age requirement: 16 and older
  • Maximum class size: 8
  • Duration: 2.5–3 hours
  • Location: Block Island, RI

Included

  • Stoneware clay
  • Firing of your finished piece
  • Homemade refreshments and non-alcoholic drinks
  • One hand-built bowl or vessel made by you

Wear clothes that can get a little messy.

Make Your Mark

A small bowl. A simple mark. A lasting memory of Block Island.

Choose a handmade Nod Bowl, shaped in OXUM’s Block Island studio and ready for its final touch. During this experience, you’ll complete the piece with a painted mark of your own, turning a handmade object into something personal.

A Nod Bowl is defined by a subtle shift in the form — a quiet gesture that gives the piece its character. Your mark continues that gesture. No two bowls will be alike. A simple touch changes the object, and the object becomes uniquely yours.

This experience is simple, relaxed, and made for sharing. Come with a partner, a friend, a loved one, or on your own, and mark a small moment in time.

Once finished, your bowl is ready to take home and use — for olives, nuts, sea salt, jewelry, keys, or whatever life places in it. Over time, it becomes more than a handmade object. It becomes a reminder of a moment, a place, and the people who were part of it.

Experience Details

  • Class level: All levels
  • Age requirement: All ages welcome with adult supervision
  • Duration: Approximately 20–30 minutes
  • Location: Block Island, RI

Included

  • One handmade OXUM Nod Bowl
  • Use of porcelain-safe paints
  • Guidance and materials
  • A finished bowl ready to take home the same day

Wear clothes that can handle a little paint.

Reserve Your Experience

Choose an upcoming semi-private experience below. Registration is handled through Sawyer, our booking partner.

 

Oxum Foundation Inc., located in Brooklyn, New York, is a new and innovative, volunteer-based 501c3 not-for-profit whose mission is to help young daughters and mother survivors of trafficking through education and job creation. Established in 2021, the organization promotes economic empowerment among underserved women by contributing to their long-term education and career goals. 

We accomplish this alongside Oxum—a for-profit brand that designs, manufactures, and sells home décor products to retailers and direct to consumers. In addition, Oxum NYC employs female survivors and pays competitive wages for their time and effort. 

Human trafficking—modern-day slavery and illegally exploiting a person—is one of the fastest-growing transnational crimes globally. It is a multi-billion-dollar industry encompassing sex trafficking, forced labor, and domestic servitude. 

In 2018, an estimated 403,000 people were trafficked in the United States. (What is Sex Trafficking, n.d.) The U.S. Department of State estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States annually. (ACLU, n.d.) Unfortunately, these estimates are only a fraction of what is happening in this country due to the crime's complicated and hidden underground nature.  

For more information on how you can help or volunteer, please send us an email at oxum@oxumnyc.com

Cancellation & Refund Policy

We understand that plans can change. Please email oxum@oxumnyc.com as soon as possible if you need to cancel or reschedule your experience.

Semi-Private Experiences

Cancellations or reschedule requests made at least 48 hours before the experience are eligible for a full refund or one-time reschedule. Cancellations made between 24 and 47 hours before the experience are not eligible for a refund, but may receive a credit to reschedule for a future date. No-shows and cancellations made less than 24 hours before the experience are nonrefundable..

Private Gatherings, Parties & Celebrations

Cancellations or reschedule requests made at least 48 hours before the experience are eligible for a full refund or one-time reschedule. Cancellations made less than 48 hours before the experience are nonrefundable. No-shows are nonrefundable..