Ongoing Wheel Throwing Pottery Workshop is being conducted by newly formed Madhyamaka Studio
For Samina Ekhlas, it’s childlike joy to muddy her hands with mud and make something effortless that draws her to pottery.
“It’s almost therapeutic and a huge stress buster. I don’t know how time flies,” she says. Samina Peda is one of the participants of the ongoing Wheel Throwing Pottery Workshop run by the newly opened Madhyamaka Studio in Voltaire.
The studio is an initiative of Chindhu Hari and her husband Rohit Vijapu. Located on the ground floor of their house, it has three electric pottery wheels in the Throwing Room and another room for Pinch Pottery and Hand Building.
There is also an electric kiln chamber where bisque firing and glaze firing are done.
Chindhu procures its clays and glazes from suppliers in Bangalore. “There seems to be a lot of interest in pottery, especially during the pandemic. Pottery has a universal appeal across all age groups. Anyone can sit on a potter’s wheel and pull out something useful,” she admits, receiving plenty of inquiries for the workshop. Due to the limited wheelbase, she enrolls a maximum of three per batch.
An IT professional, Chindhu has always been drawn towards ceramics. “I started in 2018 by going for a weekend Pinch Pottery course in Bangalore. Later, in 2019-2020, I took a course in Slow Pottery. Although I wanted to continue, the pandemic put a halt to it. That’s when we got a wheel at home and I started learning new skills on my own and continued to practice what I learned from my teachers,” she says.
working with wood
In August this year, he started Madhyamaka studio for carpentry and pottery with Rohit. “Our intention is to design and create art in different media and make it more accessible to the people through workshops,” says Chindhu.
She also wants to collaborate with local potters and wood craftsmen. “We have had some success connecting with woodworkers. But we did not find any such potter in the city who is now practicing this art. This is a sad situation. We are trying to encourage the new generation of potters to come and join us at least once a week as the skill they possess is precious,” she adds.
In January, Chindhu and Rohit are planning a woodworking workshop with Japanese joinery. “It is a technique of wood manufacturing, where sharp pieces of wood are joined together to form three-dimensional objects,” says Rohit.
This will be followed by a workshop on lino printmaking.
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