Vorarlberg is the westernmost region of Austria. It is a place full of mountains, no matter which direction you look, lots of farmers, and little villages scattered around the bigger cities (which, to be fair, aren’t particularly big either).

Life there feels very peaceful, especially if you get away from the cities and spend some time in the smaller villages. I like to go there every summer to get my yearly dose of peace. Waking up late, having the sun shine in your face while you drink your morning coffee and look at the mountains. There is something about it that makes you forget about everything else for a little while.

The funny thing about Vorarlberg is that there is pretty much nothing to do. And I mean that in the best possible way. You spend most of your time at home, go for walks and enjoy being outside. I would probably call them hikes, but the people of Vorarlberg go on so many hikes that what I would consider a hike is simply a walk to them.

In the summer of 2025, I went there to meet some friends and we decided to go on a little “hike” around the outskirts of Dornbirn.

It was a pretty popular route, so there were quite a few people walking the same paths as us. The scenery was beautiful, with rocky mountains and waterfalls everywhere. A very nice place to spend a summer afternoon.

Now, as I am the way that I am, and since we weren’t really going on a hike but rather just a “walk”, I didn’t come prepared.

Prepared for wild clay hunting, that is.

As it happens, and keeps on happening, I really should start carrying a ziplock bag and a spoon with me wherever I go. Just in case the opportunity arises. But apparently I haven’t learned my lesson yet, because this was another one of those occasions where I found clay and had absolutely nothing to put it in.

I wasn’t even looking for clay. (It seems to be a recurring theme.)

But then I noticed these little cracks along the side of the trail and immediately knew what I was looking at. Clay!

I touched it, played around with it, made a little ball and kept playing with it while we continued walking. I thought to myself: okay, learn your lesson, bring something next time. At least you have this little ball to play with for the rest of the walk.

Of course, my friends noticed that I had found clay. I mean, I wasn’t exactly being secretive about it.

They also happened to have a very small baby with them, and at some point they came up with a brilliant idea. What if, during our break, we ate the baby’s snacks and then I could use the empty snack bag to collect some clay on our way back?

I remember asking them: “Are you sure you want US to eat the baby’s snacks just so I have somewhere to put clay?”

They said yes. Hahaha.

And so that’s exactly what we did.

I brought the clay back to Vienna (on an eight-hour train ride, might I add), processed it and it was a dream to work with. Super smooth, with hardly any impurities to sieve out.

I fired my first test and was quite surprised by the result. Before firing, the clay had this ochre-yellow colour, but after firing it turned into a beautiful burgundy red. Even more unexpectedly, it held up as a high-fire clay!

I was shocked, but very, very happy.

Since I had only managed to bring back a small amount of clay, I decided to stretch it as much as possible. I mixed it with more water and turned it into a slip that I could brush onto the surface of my pieces.

It has become one of my favourite clays that I’ve collected so far. I absolutely love the colour, the texture and the way it behaves.

The pieces I make with this clay are limited, though. Once I’ve used it all up, that’s it. Even if I go back to exactly the same hiking trail and collect clay from exactly the same spot, there’s no guarantee it will have the same qualities as the clay I found in 2025.

And I think that’s part of what makes working with wild clay so special. Every collection is a little different, and sometimes you come across something that you simply cannot recreate.

So, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from this experience (and from many others before it), it’s that I should probably just start carrying a ziplock bag and a spoon everywhere I go.