What EKWC is
The European Ceramic Work Centre — EKWC for short — is an internationally significant artist-in-residence centre and centre of excellence for ceramics. Artists, designers and architects from around the world come for residencies of two to three months at a time, working in industrial-scale studios with access to kilns, glaze laboratories, technicians and a community of fellow makers. The list of artists who have worked here over the decades is genuinely global, and a lot of contemporary ceramic art passes through these halls.
EKWC has been based at the KVL site in Oisterwijk since 2015, after relocating from 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch). The move into the converted leather factory gave it the kind of high-ceilinged industrial space that ceramics work actually needs — and gave KVL its anchor cultural tenant.
What happens there
The model is straightforward and unusual. The centre selects residents on the basis of proposals; selected artists arrive at the start of a residency block, are given a private studio, access to the workshops and technicians, and a stipend; they then make work that pushes their own practice, often into scales or techniques they couldn't manage in their home studio. The work that results goes out into exhibitions, museum collections and the wider conversation about contemporary ceramics.
The centre is not just a residency. It runs an active programme of public events: open studio days, exhibitions, talks, workshops and the occasional symposium that brings together museum curators, gallerists and academics from across Europe and beyond.
"In a country famous for design, EKWC is the place ceramics specifically goes to argue with itself."
Why it's worth visiting
If you have any interest in contemporary art, craft or design, EKWC is the most unusual thing in Oisterwijk to spend time with. The work on the walls and in the kilns is unfinished, still being argued through. You're not seeing a polished retrospective; you're seeing the studio behind the studio.
The other reason is the building. Watching a serious ceramic studio at work inside a former leather factory is a bit of architectural pleasure in itself — the cast-iron windows, the long bays, the saw-tooth roofs that wash the workshops in even northern light.
When to come
The most rewarding visits are during open studio days, which the centre runs several times a year at the end of each residency block. The current residents open their workspaces, talk about what they're making, and sometimes have small pieces for sale. The dates are published on the centre's own website and are well worth a check before planning your visit.
Outside of open days, the centre's exhibition spaces and bookshop are usually accessible during opening hours, and the courtyards and ground-floor spaces of KVL are walkable any time. Don't wander into the studios uninvited; respect that this is a working environment.
What you'll see
Ceramic art in 2026 is a much bigger field than most people expect. Resident work might be:
- Architectural — building-scale tiles, façade pieces, ceramic furniture.
- Sculptural — figurative, abstract, or pushing the limits of clay's physics.
- Functional — pots, bowls, vases at the high end of contemporary craft.
- Hybrid — collaborations with glass, metal, textile, digital design.
You will not see traditional Delftware. You will see things you have not seen before.
How EKWC sits in Oisterwijk
EKWC anchors the cultural identity of the new KVL. Around it cluster the smaller designer studios and craft businesses that the redevelopment attracted, the patisserie, the brasserie, the hotel. The whole quarter has a particular atmosphere — industrial bones, contemporary use — that is doing more to make Oisterwijk an interesting day out than perhaps any other single thing.
For students and makers
EKWC accepts residency applications from artists, designers and architects working with ceramic materials. The application process is competitive but international and open; the centre has hosted residents from across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Information is on the centre's own site.