The Studio

Studio Tin is an old dream that “grew” in my private garden, among the trees and plants that receive all my love. The studio is located in Moshav Herut in the Sharon area. After years of practicing art in different settings as a hobby, I was fortunate to realize an old love for sculpture and pottery, and everything happens in a small studio where I create my imaginings as well as functional pieces, in a rural atmosphere. The name was chosen by Shirley, who made sure that the new “baby” would also receive a biblical name, following Omer, Avia, and Dotan :)

Tin is the biblical word for clay; it appears in the context of wet material or mud and is considered a biblical term describing the substance from which the potter (the maker of clay vessels) creates. The name hints not only at the material—sand, stone, earth—but also at essence: tin is the beginning of creation, a symbol of rawness, potential, humility, and the ability to change. Tin and clay are the material from which humans were created: “For dust you are and to dust you will return” – tin is the basis, but the form and life are the result of the creative touch, and they symbolize human fragility.

I hope the studio will be, for you as it is for me, a place to “break the vessels” and create anew. A place not only for material and clay, but also for touch and renewed acquaintance with yourself, enjoyment, and the discovery of potential that has not yet been revealed.

About me

My name is Uri Ashano. I am married to Shirly, a proud father of three, and I live in Moshav Herut.
I discovered my love for art when I drew a fairly ordinary train on its tracks — ordinary, yet enough for my kindergarten teacher to notice me for the first time.

In the years that followed, I found the most colorful corner in Be’er Sheva:
the Visual Arts Center for Youth, Be’er Sheva.
Later, as a teenager, art connected me to a desire to help people with disabilities, and I began volunteering at AKIM Israel rehabilitation centers, working with boys and girls on the autism spectrum and with intellectual disabilities. At that time, my chosen medium was clay — through it I got to know them, while simultaneously enabling self-expression, creativity, emotional release, and communication.

As a natural continuation, I completed studies in Psychology and Education at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, alongside art studies at the College of Visual Arts in Be’er Sheva. For me, everything led toward integrating art and psychology in formal professional practice. At the beginning of my career, I worked at a special education school in Be’er Sheva, where I specialized as an art therapist. After approximately seven years in the field, I wrote a curriculum integrating photography into therapeutic work.

I came to realize that technology was creating a different kind of interface — for myself and for the adolescents — between the individual and their environment. Driven by curiosity and a desire to understand the potential of integrating technology into therapeutic practice, I went abroad to study Interactive Design at the Royal College of Art, focusing on the interface between people and technology. My thesis explored virtual reality as a therapeutic medium for phobias and autism.

Unfortunately, I did not truly return to the field of education. Instead, my studies led me to a different adventure — thirty years in the world of interface design: designing tools, technological ones, aimed at the future and at so-called “normal” users. Throughout this period, I was constantly engaged in various forms of art and design. I painted as a hobby and continued studying pottery and ceramics, first for about three years with ceramic artist Nechama Herach, and later for about four years at the studio of Keren and Dotan in Moshav Shfayim.

Today, with the realization of the dream of having my own studio, I am pressing rewind — returning to ancient technology, to my own personal genesis, to raw material, and to the design of simple, functional vessels. On a daily basis, I mainly sculpt and throw for myself. On weekends, I lead workshops at Studio Mekan, Udim. In the future, I hope to open my own workshops, offer sculpture classes, and return to art therapy.