Pottery is a type of ceramic material, which the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has defined as "(a)ll fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical, structural, and refractory products." The term pottery is also used for a technique involving ceramic, where clay is mixed with other minerals and is formed into objects, including vessels generally designed for utilitarian purposes.

A Pottery is a facility of any size, from a modest studio to an industrialized factory, where pottery is made. Where resources are available - raw materials, workers, transportation - groups of potteries may exist. Due to the large number of pottery factories, or colloquially 'Pot Banks', the City of Stoke-on-Trent in England became known as The Potteries; one of the first industrial cities of the modern era where as early as 1785 200 pottery manufacturers employed 20,000 workers. The Potters is the nickname of the local football club, Stoke City F.C.. The same name is used for sports teams in the one-time "Pottery Capital of the World," East Liverpool, Ohio.

Pottery production is a process by which a clay body, clay mixed with other minerals, is shaped and allowed to dry. The shaped clay body, or piece, ware or article, may be "bisque or biscuit fired" in a kiln to induce permanent changes that result in increased mechanical strength, and then fired a second time after adding a glaze or a piece may be once fired by applying appropriate glaze to the dry unfired body and firing in one cycle.

With mass production techniques having replaced the traditional role studio potters have focused more on the aesthetic than the utilitarian Traditionally, different regions of the world have used produced different types of clay, sometimes mixed with other minerals, to produce regionally distinctive pottery. It is common for different clays and minerals to be mixed to produce clay bodies suited to specific purposes. Pottery that is fired at temperatures in the 800 to 1200 ��C range, which does not vitrify in the kiln but remains slightly porous is often called earthenware or terra cotta. Clay bodies formulated to be fired at higher temperatures, which is partially vitrified is called stoneware. Fine earthenware with a white tin glaze is known as faience. Porcelain is a very refined, smooth, white body that, when fired to vitrification, can have translucent qualities.