Ceramics is one of the most ancient industries, going back thousands of years, with the oldest known ceramic artifact created during the late Paleolithic period. The artifact is a small statue of a woman, named the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, found near the remains of a horseshoe-shaped kiln in the modern-day Czech Republic. In contrast, the first high-fired glazed ceramics were produced during the Shang Dynasty (1700-1027 BC) in China. 

Pottery and ceramics are both general terms used to describe objects, functional or sculptural, that were formed with clay, hardened by firing, and decorated or glazed. There are three main types of ceramics: earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain, differentiated by the temperature at which the clay is fired and the resulting strength, water resistance, and durability of the final product. Each type of ceramic can also be coated in different forms of glaze, which can give the surface a variety of colors and textures. Today, there are also several ways to fire ceramics, such as electric kilns, gas kilns, soda firing, raku firing, and wood-burning kilns that create drastically different surfaces. 

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