It is and remains ceramic. Ceramics, like glass, are fragile. When choosing our materials and glazes, we take quality into account. Val Pottery mainly works with stoneware. This is a tad sturdier than pottery. We are lucky that we rarely, if any, receive complaints from our customers about our pieces chipping quickly (read: small pieces that break off at the slightest touch). We obviously do assume that you are not going to play Frisbee with it.