Hidden off a quiet courtyard in the heart of Copenhagen’s bustling shopping district, you’ll find the calm oasis of Tortus Copenhagen. Here, housed in a 19th-century truss-style building, master potters Eric Landon and Karin Blach Nielsen follow a century-old tradition of Danish ceramics, creating timeless vessels the old-fashioned way, methodically, at their own humble pace.
![tortus copenhagen unglazed fluted](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/tortus copenhagen unglazed fluted.jpg)
Above: Dramatically proportioned, yet with a clean silhouette, Tortus’s bowls await the glazing process.
![tortus copenhagen studio 2](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/tortus copenhagen studio 2.jpg)
Above: Much like their ceramics, Eric and Karin’s studio represents a marriage of rich tradition and modern design.
![tortus copenhagen eric landon](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/tortus copenhagen eric landon.jpg)
Above: Master potter and designer Eric Landon sits in the studio’s doorway, which opens onto the sunlit courtyard. A graduate of the Danish School of Design, he’s been working with ceramics since he was 16 and has received a number of awards for his work.
![process tortus copenhagen 0](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/process tortus copenhagen_0.jpg)
Above: For Landon, Tortus is as much about the process, “the love of making and a passion for the materials,” as it is about the end result.
![tortus copenhagen fluted with Eric](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/tortus copenhagen fluted with Eric.jpg)
Above: Landon surveys unglazed pots in the truss-style studio.
![karin bach nielsen tortus copehagen 0](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/karin bach nielsen tortus copehagen_0.jpg)
Above: Karin Blach Nielsen, a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, is Tortus’s “architect of color and surface”–in other words, she’s the glaze master.
![Slow Ceramics from Tortus Copenhagen portrait 9](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/tortus copenhagen vessels.jpg)
Above: Tortus’s finished vessels represent “a seamless dialogue between design and process.”
![Slow Ceramics from Tortus Copenhagen portrait 10](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/tortus copenhagen showroom.jpg)
Above: The ceramics are for sale in a minimal showroom at one end of the studio. You can also purchase Tortus’s piece at their online shop, Selected by Tortus.
![Screen Shot 2013 06 13 at 7.52.51 PM](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/Screen Shot 2013-06-13 at 7.52.51 PM.png)
Above: A detail of one of Karin’s richly layered glazes.
![tortus copenhagen fluted vessel](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/tortus copenhagen fluted vessel.jpg)
Above: A serene and stately pot from Tortus’s fluted collection, a prime example of the studio’s mix of traditional craft and modern form.
![tortus copenhagen unglazed pots](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/tortus copenhagen unglazed pots.jpg)
Above: Unfinished pieces await Karin’s glaze consideration.
![tortus copenhagen red stool](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/tortus copenhagen red stool.jpg)
Witness Tortus’s creative process in action in a video shot from a very unexpected perspective.
N.B.: This post is an update; the original story ran on June 13, 2013 as part of our Nautical Notes issue.
Take a tour of another inspired ceramics studio with Heath’s Adam Silverman. Also have a look at A French Potter at the Wheel in New York.
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