SEASONS IN THE SUN

Get your home ready for summers with interesting pottery pieces. Be it muted hues or bright and bold colours, functional designs or sculptural works, in the hands of these 10 ceramicists clay awakens, stretches and turns into arresting objects of beauty.

SONG OF THE SOIL INDRANI SINGH, 41 CERAMIC SCULPTOR AND OWNER, PHOENIX POTTERIES, AUROVILLE www.indranisinghcassime.in

Even though she has a degree in visual arts, she found institutional learning too restrictive. That’s when Indrani Singh realised that she wanted a self-evolving growth path. “I decided that if I wanted the professional results I was craving for I needed to go back to my roots and embrace the ancient guru-shishya approach,” says Singh. Since then she has worked with senior artists in India and abroad such as Mini Singh, Angad Vohra, Rachana Parashara, Ray Meeker and Ed Brown. In 1999, she started doing basic throwing and functional ware, then went on to glazing, sculpting and kiln building.

MARVELLOUS MUD Singh creates ceramics from clay, stoneware from a mixture of ball clay, potash feldspar, fire clay, red clay and silica, and sculptural art works from native clay, a naturally sourced clay conducive for very high temperature firing. “I also built my own anagama kiln (a Japanese style kiln) and two gas kilns (for reduction firings and to develop lustre in wares) in my studio,” adds the artist.

SPOILT FOR CHOICE You can buy a gamut of beautiful designs from Singh. These include utility ware which consists of glasses, mugs, platters, mirrors, vases and candle holders; along with sculptural pieces for indoors and outdoors.

PRICE `300 to `6,000 (for utility ware), `50,000 onwards (for sculptural art)