How did it all start ?

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 I had moved to London in January 2008 from India. And the cold weather, gloomy sky, sunset before 4 pm, reading books sitting in the close vicinity of the radiator and having infinite cups of tea all day didn't make me feel any better. So I decided to go out on walks, as I thought I should acclimatize myself to the new country. And I must say that going on walks, breathing in the scenic beauty and culture of the city was a welcome change. 

It was on one of my walks along the Kidderpore Avenue that I reached Hampstead School of Arts. It's a quaint little school in Hampstead and has several classes in art and pottery to offer. I went back home that day and looked up the school and checked the courses currently running there. I found some new courses starting in the Spring term. The next day I had made up my mind to go again and register myself for my very first course in " Botanical Painting". I was thrilled to find myself in the course after a few weeks drawing and painting a crocus. I had to draw it in detail like you would do when studying Botany at school. I painted it in water colors giving it shades of purple. I had an enriching experience, learning about drawing and painting flowers from my teacher.

One more course that had caught my eye was "Hand Built Ceramics". Right from my childhood, I was always in awe of potters and people who could create wonderful things out of clay.  And so I signed up for this course as well. And I must say, once I embarked on this small course, it made me realize how truly rewarding it is to create something from your own hands. Each day that I used to go to the school, I would be super charged in the morning and towards the end of the day I did not want to get up and go home. The first thing that I made was a vase with my hands, rolling and giving shape to the clay each day. Then I carved flowers and some other patterns on the vase. After the first round of bisque firing, I used pastel green and pastel blue for the underglazes on the vase. Once the colors were dry, I applied a transparent glaze to give the vase a sheen  and fired it at a higher temperature. The vase, when it came out looked beautiful and it was selected to be photographed for the school magazine. I was on cloud nine that day and walked home slowly and carefully, carrying my first work of clay and art.

I kept working with clay for some more time and learnt a lot of things about pottery. It gave me immense satisfaction creatively and emotionally. I have now embarked on a journey to make lead-free and safe ceramic products for use in the kitchen. I have an online presence as of now and supplying to US only.

You can view my products here 


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