In July 1991, Corinne de Haas, together with her husband Robert and her brother Tobias, made a decisive break from convention. Each resigned from secure professional careers; geology at De Beers Marine, municipal engineering, and road construction; to pursue a shared belief in craft, independence, and place.

They acquired an undeveloped 2 000 m² property at 14 Harbour Road, Kleinmond. At the time, Harbour Road was little more than a dirt track lined with deserted industrial buildings. The site itself was largely boggy, with only a modest 100 m² brick structure on the corner. Inside stood a small flame kiln, basic pottery equipment, and the remnants of a small studio.

Attached to the building was a small wooden Wendy house that served as the studio shop. Beneath a yellow shade-net awning, Corinne, during the first summer season, laid the foundations of what would become a destination.

Confident to expand in early 1992, the studio footprint was extended to increase production. Their work of this period was rooted in traditional stoneware techniques; throwing, slab work, and hand building; with reduction firing producing deep blues, browns, Chun tones, oxblood reds, cobalt lavenders, and rutile yellows.