Studio stories
Stories from the studio.
How pieces are made, where the glazes come from, and what one small studio on the Adriatic looks like from the inside. Written when the kiln is cooling.
9 August 2026 · 4 min
Is Piran worth visiting?
The honest answer, and what to do with it: how Piran compares to the rest of the Adriatic, whether one day is really enough, and the quiet season that may be the loveliest time of all to come.
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9 August 2026 · 4 min
What is Piran famous for?
Piran is famous for three things above all: its salt from the 700-year-old Sečovlje pans, its remarkably preserved Venetian old town, and the composer Giuseppe Tartini, born here in 1692. A town built on white gold and five centuries of Venice.
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9 August 2026 · 5 min
Is September a good time to visit Piran?
Yes, maybe the best month of all: the sea is still warm at around 23°C, the summer crowds thin out once the school holidays end, the light turns golden, and the old town stays lively without the July crush, warm days and soft golden evenings.
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8 August 2026 · 5 min
How do you spend one day in Piran?
You can cross Piran in fifteen minutes, so one day is plenty if you slow down: a local maker's route through Tartini Square, the town walls, the old-town alleys, seafood, a swim off the rocks and the sunset from the sea wall.
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7 August 2026 · 5 min
How do you get to Piran?
There is no train to Piran: it is about two hours by bus from Ljubljana, an hour from Trieste, a summer catamaran from Venice, and the old town is car-free, so drivers park at the Fornače garage and ride the electric shuttle in.
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6 August 2026 · 4 min
Should you visit Piran or Portorož?
Stay in Piran for the historic car-free old town and quiet alleys; stay in Portorož for the beach, big hotels, spa and nightlife. They are four kilometres apart, so you do not really have to choose.
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5 August 2026 · 4 min
Should you visit Piran or Rovinj?
Piran (Slovenia) and Rovinj (Croatia) are both beautiful former Venetian towns about an hour apart. See both if you can; if you must choose, Piran is smaller and quieter, Rovinj bigger and livelier. Same euro, no border queues.
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4 August 2026 · 4 min
What is Piran salt, and how do you bring it home?
Piran salt is sea salt hand-harvested at the 700-year-old Sečovlje pans; fleur de sel is the prized top skim. It is a wonderful edible souvenir, and the local tip is to pair it with a small handmade dish so the memory outlasts the salt.
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2 August 2026 · 4 min
Why are the houses in Piran so close together?
Piran's old town was built on a small Adriatic peninsula, so for centuries its houses grew tall, narrow and shoulder to shoulder, the same clustered little houses Nika Horjak Ceramics now shapes by hand in clay.
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18 July 2026 · 4 min
The best souvenir shop in Piran in 2026, according to Google reviews
More than 140 Google reviews in a single summer, all of them five stars: what visitors keep saying about the little ceramics studio on Goriška ulica 2, and what to expect when you visit.
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8 July 2026 · 5 min
What is the best souvenir from Piran?
The honest answer from a local maker: the best souvenirs from Piran are salt from the saltpans, Istrian olive oil, and handmade ceramics glazed in the town's own colours.
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8 July 2026 · 5 min
Where can you buy handmade ceramics in Piran?
At Nika Horjak Ceramics on Goriška ulica 2, a working studio a few steps from the marina, plus an honest guide to telling handmade pieces from imported souvenir ware.
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8 July 2026 · 4 min
Can you watch a potter at work in Piran?
Yes, at Nika Horjak Ceramics the wheel runs most days and watching is free and welcome. What you'll see, from wedging to kiln day, and why you don't need to book.
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5 May 2026 · 7 min
How a Piran fish platter is made
From wedged clay to glaze pour to second firing, what happens between the wheel and the kitchen table.
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6 May 2026 · 6 min
Ten glazes named for Piran
Each colour in the studio is named for a place I look at every day, the sea, the salt-pans, the bell tower at first light.
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7 May 2026 · 5 min
What to bring back from Piran
A ceramicist's gift guide, small enough to fit in a carry-on, made one piece at a time on the marina.
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8 May 2026 · 6 min
Why slow ceramics last
A small studio's case for buying less, and what a fingerprint, a slight wobble, and a kiln that decides actually mean.
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9 May 2026 · 5 min
A wedding, a vine leaf, two sommeliers
A custom piece for two sommeliers, a ceramic vine leaf with a cluster of wine grapes, made to hold their wedding rings on the day.
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