Afghan Potter Restarts in the U.S.
NEW MILFORD, Connecticut — Before leaving Afghanistan in 2021, Matin Malikzada took pride in making pottery with the traditional materials and tools his family cherished.
He used to mix his own clay dug from a mountainside near Istalif, a village north of Kabul known for its ceramics. He would kick his potter’s wheel with his sandaled right foot and make his bright turquoise glaze from the ishkar plant, which grows in the desert.
Now Mr. Malikzada, 38, is recreating his life as an artist in Connecticut. His family of six are among the 6.4 million refugees or asylum seekers from Afghanistan who now live abroad. “I had more than 30 years’ experience, but everything was new for me here,” he said. “I felt like a kid.”
Mr. Malikzada had to learn to use factory-made clay, an electric wheel, and chemicals to create glazes. It took 415 experiments to come up with his signature colors.
Mr. Malikzada’s unexpected journey to the United States began about three and a half years ago, when the Taliban was taking over Kabul and U.S. troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan. After securing an evacuation flight to Qatar and spending months in temporary housing sites there and in North Macedonia, he and his wife and four children arrived in Virginia in 2022. They were among an estimated 76,000 Afghans admitted to the United States legally in the year after the troop withdrawal.
New Milford Refugee Resettlement, a local nonprofit group, found housing for Mr. Malikzada’s family and covered their initial rent. Another local nonprofit sent English tutors. Neighbors drove the children to appointments. Local potters have given him materials. His landlord is letting him make pottery in the basement.
For several months, Mr. Malikzada worked at a furniture factory during the day and made pottery at night. Stephen Gass, an entrepreneur, thought the factory job could damage his hands. He is helping him develop his pottery business instead. “His work ethic is staggering,” Mr. Gass said.
When Mr. Malikzada created a new line of tableware, he named it “Together,” to honor everyone who helped him.
Word about Mr. Malikzada’s work is spreading. The fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, who has a home in Connecticut, heard about him from a friend. She visited Mr. Malikzada’s basement and bought dozens of bowls and plates. “They are exquisite,” she said.
Mr. Malikzada, a seventhgeneration potter, is still adjusting. The hardest part is missing his relatives. His parents died, one after the other, after he left Afghanistan. “My life is like a bowl; that bowl is broken,” he said. “Now I made a bowl again, but it needs firing, it needs a glaze, it takes time.”