about us

J.C. HERMAN is Herman Verhagen's pottery workshop. J.C. stands for Johannes Cornelis, his Christian names.

He graduated in 2003 from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, not in ceramics but in film. After several years as a filmmaker, he retrained as a potter in Paris, where he lived at the time. He took wheel-throwing lessons with Karin Dessag and learned glazing from Marc Uzan in Le Mans, central France.

In 2011 he opened his first shop / studio in Sint Jansstraat, next to Dam Square in central Amsterdam. He sold work directly from the workshop, and took numerous orders from restaurants and private individuals: from plant pots and personalized urns to series of over a hundred plates.

In 2014 he moved to Herenstraat, a more upmarket but much more expensive Amsterdam location. Despite success, he decided to close the store in 2017 to reduce overheads and focus on product improvement. Since then, the studio has been located in the VEEM, still in central Amsterdam.

At the end of 2018, he studied in Arita and Itoshima in Japan and Jingdezhen, China.
There he learnt more of the history and contemporary production of porcelain, which originated in Jingdezhen.

He regularly collaborates with other artists including Joost Krijnen, Job Wouters, Martín La Roche Contreras, Saskia Pfaeltzer, Constant Dullaart, Jan Rothuizen and Isfrid Siljehaug.

Over the next years, Herman Verhagen wants to carry out more exclusive projects with artists and technicians, and to work on exclusive larger productions for restaurants and hotels in the higher segment.

But above all, he wants to produce high-quality, sustainable ceramics, accessible to every enthusiast (with a large or small purse). To transfer the pleasure of production, fired with the clay, to the user.



J.C. HERMAN works with products from the region, uses green energy and recycles production materials: clay, glaze and water. When shipping, cardboard and plastic packing materials are frequently reused, often sourced from neighbours in the studio building. Even the water used for cleaning is taken from the river IJ, which backs on to the VEEM.