Clay Night · Lisbon Design Week 2026 Edition
Clay Night returns to Lisbon for the fourth edition of Lisbon Design Week.
From 27 to 31 May 2026, the studio in BaixaChiado hosts a special edition of the sculpting night that has been running across Europe for over eleven years. A live model.
A block of clay.
A few hours of quiet, focused attention.
No experience required. What is Clay Night Clay Night is an immersive life model sculpting session. You arrive, you take a seat at your bench, and you spend the evening shaping a figure in clay. The approach is simple: connect people to listening with their eyes.
You do not need to have sculpted before. Most people who walk in have not.
By the end of the evening, you will have made something with your hands that you could not have imagined making three hours earlier.
The Lisbon Design Week edition This edition runs alongside the official Lisbon Design Week 2026 programme, the citywide festival of contemporary design, craft and architecture taking place across more than 80 venues from 27 to 31 May. What is different about this edition: Portuguese cheese, charcuterie, olives, grapes and crackers, alongside a curated Portuguese wine selection. Sourced locally. Served throughout the session. Everything else stays the same.
Live model.
Real clay.
Real attention.
No phones at the bench. When and where
Dates: 27 to 31 May 2026
Location: BaixaChiado, Lisbon
Duration: Approximately three hours
Capacity: Limited, small group The studio sits in the heart of Lisbon's historic centre, walking distance from the main Lisbon Design Week venues in Chiado, Príncipe Real and the riverfront.
Easy to fold into a Design Week itinerary, before or after gallery visits.
Who it is for Designers, makers and visitors in town for Lisbon Design Week.
Couples looking for a creative evening that is not dinner and a bar.
Solo travellers who want to meet people through doing rather than small talk.
Local creatives, expats and anyone who has walked past the studio and wondered.
Singles welcome. Couples welcome.
No experience needed.
Tools and clay provided.
How to book Seats are released on Shotgun.
Limited capacity, and Design Week sessions tend to sell through fast. Book Clay Night · Lisbon Design Week 2026 on Shotgun More from Ella Taub Studio Clay Night is the signature offering of Ella Taub Studio.
See all workshops at ellataub.com
Portuguese cheese and wine served during Clay Night Lisbon Design Week edition
Lisbon Design Week 2026, LDW26, Clay Night, sculpture workshop, life model sculpting, Lisbon workshops, Baixa-Chiado, creative things to do Lisbon, ARCO Lisboa, Ella Taub Studio
Things to Do in Lisbon During Design Week 2026 · A Local Guide
Lisbon is having one of its most concentrated cultural weeks of the year. From 27 to 31 May 2026, three major events overlap in the city: Lisbon Design Week 2026 (the fourth edition), the ARCO Lisboa contemporary art fair at Cordoaria Nacional, and Lisbon by Design at Palacete Gomes Freire. Add Bad Bunny at Estádio da Luz on the opening weekend and a packed gallery calendar across Chiado, Príncipe Real and Marvila, and the city is full.
If you are visiting Lisbon this week, here is what is worth your time. Real recommendations, not generic top ten listicles. Studios you can step into. Workshops you can join tonight. An art fair worth a half day. And a sculpting evening that turns a day of looking into a memory you actually keep.
Clay Night · Lisbon Design Week 2026 Edition. Aethos Club, Baixa-Chiado, Lisbon. 27 to 31 May 2026.
Lisbon Design Week 2026 · The Quick Facts
Lisbon Design Week 2026 runs from 27 to 31 May at more than 80 locations across 11 neighbourhoods. The focus is contemporary design, handmade craft, ceramics, textiles and architecture. The headline exhibition, Design Feito à Mão, lands at Arquivo Aires Mateus. The hashtag is #LDW26.
This is not a single venue event. It is a citywide programme. You move between studios, galleries, hotel spaces and pop up venues in neighbourhoods like Chiado, Príncipe Real, Marvila, Graça, Anjos and Belém. Admission to most venues is free.
Sculpt a Live Model · Clay Night at Ella Taub Studio
For travellers tired of looking at things and ready to make something with their own hands, this is the evening to book.
Clay Night is a life model sculpting session that has been running across Europe for over eleven years. You sit at a bench, a live model takes their pose, and over the course of about three hours you shape a figure in clay. No experience needed. Tools and clay provided. The approach is simple: connect people to listening with their eyes.
For Lisbon Design Week 2026, the studio runs a special edition with Portuguese cheese, charcuterie, olives, grapes and crackers, alongside a curated Portuguese wine selection. Sourced locally. Served throughout the session.
The studio is at Aethos Club in Baixa-Chiado. Sessions run throughout Lisbon Design Week, 27 to 31 May 2026. Each lasts about three hours. Singles, couples, designers, makers, curious tourists and locals all welcome. Book on Shotgun. Design Week sessions sell out fast.
See Contemporary Art · ARCO Lisboa 2026
Running in parallel with Lisbon Design Week, ARCO Lisboa returns to Cordoaria Nacional from 28 to 31 May for its ninth edition. Expect more than 80 galleries from over 17 countries, the Opening Lisboa section for emerging spaces, ArtsLibris with around 60 publishers, and Millennium Art Talks. Lisbon Design Week designs the LDW Lounge inside the fair, called The Living Room.
The fair pairs naturally with a Clay Night evening. Spend the day at Cordoaria looking at painting, sculpture and conceptual work. Then come to the studio in Baixa-Chiado and try sculpting yourself.
Walk the Design Trail · Neighbourhoods Worth Your Time
Lisbon Design Week 2026 is best done on foot. A few neighbourhoods cluster particularly well.
Chiado and Baixa form the historic centre. Compact, walkable, dense with galleries and studios. Start your day here. Ella Taub Studio sits in this area.
Príncipe Real holds the independent shops, design stores and open ateliers. A good late morning loop.
Marvila is Lisbon's industrial east, increasingly the centre of the city's contemporary art and design scene. Worth half a day. Marvilla 119 gallery hosts the Two Figures sculpting event in collaboration with Ella Taub Studio during Design Week and again during Lisbon Art Week in November.
Graça and Anjos have just expanded into the 2026 programme. Ceramicists, textile makers and small studios.
Belém is for ARCO at Cordoaria Nacional and MAAT exhibitions on the riverfront.
Where to Eat Between Visits
A few suggestions for staying fed without leaving the creative trail.
For lunch in Chiado, Manteigaria for pastel de nata and Pistola y Corazón Taqueria for proper tacos. For coffee in Príncipe Real, Hello, Kristof keeps the design magazines and the filter coffee both good. For an aperitivo in Baixa-Chiado, find a small wine bar on Rua dos Bacalhoeiros before Clay Night, or skip ahead since wine is included at the session. For dinner in Marvila, 8 Marvila for live music and food, or any of the converted warehouse restaurants along the waterfront.
Ceramics and Clay in Lisbon · Why the Scene Matters Right Now
Portuguese craft, particularly ceramics, is having a moment internationally. Lisbon Design Week 2026 features multiple ceramic designers and positions Lisbon not as a satellite of larger design capitals but as a city where craft, material intelligence and small scale authorship are central to contemporary visual culture.
For tourists in Lisbon who want to engage with this scene actively rather than passively, the options are simple. Visit ceramic studios on the official Design Week trail, free during the daytime. Buy work from independent makers in Príncipe Real and Anjos. Or book a workshop and make something yourself.
Clay Night is the figurative sculpting option. You leave with a clay portrait you sculpted yourself. For visitors who want to bring home something they made rather than something they bought, this is the route.
Beyond Design Week · Workshops at Ella Taub Studio All Year
Clay Night is the signature offering at Ella Taub Studio. The wider programme, The Atelier Sessions, runs throughout the year. It includes In My Own Image, the face sculpture workshop. Figure in Textile. Wearable Sculpture, Curved from Wax. Form in Mirror, the Persian mosaic session. Nude Atelier joins the programme soon.
If you are in Lisbon after Design Week, or planning to return, these sessions are bookable directly through the studio.
How to Plan Your Lisbon Design Week Day
A sample one day itinerary for LDW26 looks like this. Coffee in Príncipe Real in the morning, then walk to the Design Feito à Mão exhibition at Arquivo Aires Mateus. Lunch in Chiado. ARCO Lisboa at Cordoaria Nacional in the afternoon, allowing at least two hours. Aperitivo back in Baixa-Chiado in the early evening. Clay Night at Ella Taub Studio for the night. Sculpt a live model, eat Portuguese cheese, drink local wine, finish around eleven.
This is the day visitors keep talking about.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lisbon Design Week free? Most venues are free to enter. Some special workshops and ticketed events sit alongside the open programme. Clay Night at Ella Taub Studio is a ticketed session bookable on Shotgun.
Do I need to speak Portuguese? No. Clay Night runs in English. Most of the Lisbon Design Week audience is international.
Can I do Clay Night with no sculpting experience? Yes. Most people who walk in have never sculpted before. The session is designed for beginners and intermediate sculptors equally.
What should I wear? Clothes you do not mind getting a little clay on. Aprons are provided.
How far in advance should I book? For Design Week sessions, as early as possible. The 27 to 31 May edition is the most booked of the year.
What else is there to do in Lisbon at night during Design Week? Beyond Clay Night, Bad Bunny at Estádio da Luz on 26 and 27 May, electronic music programming through the week, gallery openings most evenings, and fado at small venues across Alfama and Mouraria.
Book Your Seat
Clay Night · Lisbon Design Week 2026 Edition. Aethos Club, Baixa-Chiado, Lisbon. 27 to 31 May 2026.
Book on Shotgun. See all workshops at ellataub.com.
