Before Hawai'i, it was always Malibu. Born and raised on the coast, John's early life is one that anyone could picture as pinnacle Southern California beach boy living. From growing up in the Palisades to establishing  what we envision to be the classic Malibu surfer, John spent his early years riding waves from Topanga to County Line. His favorite break is known as Surfrider Beach, but to John, it's forever Malibu.

​

John Stephenson’s story in clay begins in a Quonset hut at the edge of the jungle at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. There, under the open-sided roof where trade winds drifted through, he learned to throw on a treadle wheel that turned counterclockwise—just as Harue Oyama McVay had learned in Japan. With McVay and Claude Horan guiding his early steps, John mixed clay in a nearby shed, helped fire the outdoor kiln, and shaped the beginnings of a lifelong devotion to ceramics. If he wasn't in the studio, he likely was in the water surfing. 

​

John received his BFA in 1972 from the University of Hawai‘i, studying with McVay and Horan, and taking formative workshops with ceramic visionaries Paul Soldner and Peter Voulkos. His curiosity soon led him to UCLA, where he studied drawing with Jan Stussy and was accepted into Stussy’s coveted advanced workshops on figure drawing and the study of the human head—an experience that deepened his understanding of form, gesture, and the rhythms of the body.

​

In 1974, John brought raku pottery to the Swiss canton of Ticino, introducing a new ceramic vocabulary to the region and exhibiting his work at Teatro Dimitri in Verscio. The late 1970s carried him back to Los Angeles, where he managed the Alvi plant of Jaru Pottery, refining his technical and production knowledge before returning once again to Hawai‘i in 1978. There, he began creating the ceramic murals that would earn him recognition in public spaces across the islands, including his well-known installation in the lobby of the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel.

​

Decades later, John’s creative path widened to embrace cultural storytelling. In 2012 he launched Hawaiian Tattoo Art, a website celebrating his paintings and ceramic pieces inspired by Polynesian tattoo traditions. (www.hawaiiantattooart.com).

​

Two years after, in 2014, he traveled to Fiji to lead workshops with celebrated Fijian potter Amelia Lesumai—an exchange rooted in shared heritage, clay, and cultural memory.

​

In 2023, after years spent writing books on mysticism and meditation and teaching around the world, John returned to California. By 2024 he had re-established his pottery studio in Malibu, circling back to the coastline where he first learned to read the shape of a wave.

​

His work shifted with his landscape. Where Hawai‘i once offered the ‘iwa bird and the mo‘o, Malibu brought him new companions—pelicans, coyotes, sea lions, and Cooper’s hawks—each finding its way into the narrative of his forms. Through every evolution, one thread remains constant: John uses clay to tell stories. To evoke a sense of place. To invite a moment of wonder or a quiet smile. And through these stories—whether born of islands, mountains, or sea—he continues to shape a life in rhythm with the earth beneath his hands.