Steiner Ceramics History

About Bob Steiner

For more than 50 years, Bob Steiner has created distinctive handmade ceramics in Auckland, New Zealand. Renowned for sculptural forms, innovative glaze work, and timeless design, every piece is individually crafted in his studio.

For Bob, ceramics has never been separate from life. It is a way of creating meaning through making, where form, function, and place come together through clay and fire.

Bob’s connection to pottery began early, inspired by the ceramics his mother collected while the family lived in Japan. Those handmade objects left a lasting impression—the quiet beauty of useful forms and the way craftsmanship carries culture through generations.

He began making pottery in the backyard of his family home in Birkenhead in the mid-1960s. For his fifteenth birthday, his father bought him a potter’s wheel from Seabrook Fowles, a wheel Bob still uses today. His first kiln was a self-built diesel-fired salt glaze kiln, and he experimented using clay dug from a local creek, learning directly through materials, fire, and process.

Bob later studied pottery and sculpture at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. His professional practice began in Kohukohu, Hokianga, in 1974, where he spent a decade producing wheel-thrown pottery and firing a large wood and diesel-fired kiln. During this formative period, he explored ash glazes, natural materials, and the relationship between landscape and surface.

Returning to Auckland in the 1980s, Bob continued to evolve as both artist and designer. In 1986 he received a Merit Award in the prestigious Fletcher Brownbuilt Ceramics Awards for his celebrated Swirl Tea Set—followed by the Hexagonal Coffee Set and Swirl Dinner Set, designs that became iconic expressions of contemporary New Zealand ceramics.

Through the late 1980s and 1990s, Bob developed successful studio and retail ventures including Eido Ceramics and Steiner Studios, producing designerware, sculptural works, and collectible ceramics. During this time he refined the bold matte glazes and vibrant colours that became a hallmark of his work, especially his striking cobalt blue.

Today, Bob works from his purpose-built pottery studio in Avondale, Auckland. Remaining proudly independent and boutique in scale, he continues to design and handcraft ceramics that celebrate originality, durability, and beauty.

In recent years, Bob has also created a signature range of durable dinnerware highly sought after by leading restaurants and hospitality venues for its strength, function, and distinctive presentation.

Every Steiner piece reflects a lifetime of craftsmanship, innovation, and dedication to the art of ceramics.