Who is Alpott?
Tobias Auer
I was born in 1992 in Bolzano, Italy.
Deep philosophical questions about existence, an attraction to Far Eastern culture, and the search for silence led me, in my twenties, on several long solo journeys.
While others were studying or going to work, I felt the need to venture out into the world.
I spent a lot of time in silence with myself.
The journey outward was replaced by an inner journey.
As I discovered a deeper meaning in life, by my late twenties I longed for a fulfilling vocation.
The Journey into Ceramics
Clay and ceramics entered my life when I was 29 years old.
I was immediately fascinated by the possibility of engaging in an
activity in which all the elements are directly involved.
My desire to work autonomously while pursuing a creative and multifaceted craft found its full expression here.
Overwhelmed by the wide range of possibilities — in designs, firings, glazes, their raw materials, and production processes — I was, for the first time, able to imagine wanting to do something for an entire lifetime…
Many people believe that working with ceramics is meditative.
I don’t think it is, even though there are sometimes parallels.
Those who are attentive will learn a great deal about themselves during the learning and making process:
for example, how much patience they have with themselves, how strong their perseverance is, how they deal with loss, and so on.
Trying to center, ground, or balance yourself through pottery can easily backfire.
But those who manage to approach the potter’s wheel with a centered and balanced mind can indeed create magical moments in physical form.
Ceramics are truly...
Alchemy
Many aspects of our lives on this planet converge in ceramics:
Geology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, botany, etc.
I can't put it any other way: ceramics is truly alchemy.
This
Working with all elements, the physical body, in conjunction with the creative power of one's own mind, They fascinated me so much that in 2021 I decided to move to Bad Doberan on the Baltic Sea coast.
to learn the skill of wheel throwing for almost 3 years part-time in my free time at Joachim Jung's pottery workshop.
Because it quickly became clear to me that I would only make slow progress through self-study and that such a craft is best learned directly in a company, from a master of his craft.
"Apprenticeship is not a time for leisure..."
"Apprenticeship years are not years of ease," as they say in my culture.
During the first year I learned step by step the
basic technique of an
age-old method refined by Joachim Jung, which allows even larger quantities of clay to be moved to where you want them without much effort.
To give you a better idea: For two months, all I was allowed to do was center and homogenize 3 kg of clay. No making holes... no playing with it...
... in my head my time on the Baltic Sea was limited.
"Anyone who wants to make progress needs practice, discipline and perseverance."
It was about homogenize and center therefore, a feeling for speed,
the wheel head, hands, water,
Speed and centrifugal forceto develop.
The throwing process is an interplay of several factors. It's a process that's difficult to learn if the focus from the beginning is on creating a beautiful finished vessel.
The second year was filled with variations of the large-scale turning technique for smaller vessels and plates.
Turn, check, smash. Turn, check, smash. Turn, ...
In the third year, the focus was on deepening what had been learned through different forms of expression.
THE BRAND
Alpott(since 2025)
Alpott is a combination of the two words "Alps" and "Pottery" - "Alpine pottery", so to speak.
This is due to the physical location, but also to locally used glaze raw materials.
The logo gives you a closer look at the person behind Alpott. Firstly, it shows an image that is common in a pottery workshop:
The potter's wheel with a good lump of clay on it.
At the same time, the initials are also hidden here.
"T" and "A" for Tobias Auer.
Technical book "Throwing on the potter's wheel"
I was fortunate to benefit from Joachim Jung's rich ability to put the pottery process into words, not only directly, but also through my presence and assistance at some of his pottery courses.
Over several years, he compiled a specialist book unlike any other in the pottery world. He preserved his knowledge and understanding of the throwing process and related techniques for posterity through precise descriptions in words and pictures.