“You just need to love mud,” says Pooja Verma, founder of Claying Thoughts, as she talks of how anyone can be a potter. She herself worked in PR and marketing, before turning to pottery full-time, first exploring the wheel, and then shifting to hand-building items, setting up her terrace studio in 2013. “I was always inquisitive about 3D craft and that drew me towards pottery,” she says, adding that the first thing she ever crafted was a coil pot: The technique is her favourite style. Here, she talks about her journey and the course she has instituted.
Is pottery a sustainable practice?
We potters are really connected to the earth. We don’t waste anything, so if something can’t be used at home, we get it to the studio because anything can be utilised there. I believe in sustainability, that way my expenditure on the studio is minimal. If my neighbours have to throw something out, they ask me if I can get some use out of it.
What has your passion for pottery taught you in life?
Besides patience, I have learnt the art of detachment. Making a pot is like rearing a child. You spend a lot of time in preparing the clay, smoothening, designing and perfecting the details. Then you have to send your piece for bisque firing, where there is a good 10% chance that your pot will break. Initially, I used to get very upset over not receiving my art back in one piece. Eventually I learnt to enjoy the process and not be focused on the results.
What is the course all about?
The course is for beginners to experience pottery-making using handbuilding techniques. Participants will learn foundation techniques — slab, pinch, and coil building and combine them to create some interesting clay forms. They will be given a step by step demonstration of processes and will get a chance to create an independent clay project using their own idea or choose from the projects available. At the end of workshop, participants can take back their creation home.
Every weekend, from December 28th 2019 to January 26th 2020 at Claying Thoughts, Noida, Sector 21; ₹5,500 for eight sessions
