Pottery
Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Sunday, Nov 13, 2005 - 7:01pm
Today I went to Thimi with Ikuko.
A little background. I met Ikuko a couple of weeks ago in Pokhara at the meditation center. She is here in Nepal volunteering at a company called ACP (I think.) Her job at this company is create new ceramic designs which can be used as templates by the local potters to create resellable objects. ACP is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) which works to connect local potters with larger, usually international, markets. More realistically, ACP seems to function as a reseller, buying locally and shipping internationally to resell for profit.
Shelby and I were interested to see where Ikuko works, but Shelby took off this morning quite unexpectedly, going trekking for seven days. So, it was just me.
Instead of taking me to the office where she works, Ikuko took me to Thimi, a nearby town (20-30 min. ride on the local bus) where there a lot of local potters, producing for both the local and international market.
We went to two different pottery workshops. The first place had just changed location, and was in a bigger building. It was a lovely place, with extra space now that they are in the larger building. There were 5-6 people working with clay. Two working at pottery wheels, the rest adding the final touches to the products produced by the two at the pottery wheels.
One man was making the bases for lamps. Each base was about 45 cm ( 1.5 feet) tall, and about 30 cm (1 foot) wide at it's widest point. There was a narrow top with a hole where the lamp could be inserted. The other man was making clay elephant heads. Amazing what people will buy.
At the second place they concentrated on cups, mugs, teapots and incense holders.
At each place, we were treated like royalty. We were given food, chai tea and pottery. At the time I thought we were carrying the pottery back to the ACP as samples, but Ikuko told me later they were gifts for us.
At each place they talked to Ikuko, showing her what they were working on, new designs, new kilns, etc. These guys make their own kilns. I got to see one in progress. It is a steel frame, filled in with a concrete type mixture of tar, ash, sawdust and other ingredients to make a box, which is heated electrically for small kilns (used for baking samples, one off pieces), or using kerosene for the large kilns (used for producing large runs of objects.)
And they talked about difficult it was with the rising cost of kerosene, used for running the kilns.
A mug takes about 10 minutes on the pottery wheel, about 5 minutes to decorate, 11 - 12 hours in the kiln to bake it, then it is painted and glazed and baked again.
The potter is paid $1 USD for each mug. ACP resells internationally for $2.50 USD. Ikuko says they are worth $6 - $8 USD in the States in catalogs.
Local Time: Sunday, Nov 13, 2005 - 7:01pm
Today I went to Thimi with Ikuko.
A little background. I met Ikuko a couple of weeks ago in Pokhara at the meditation center. She is here in Nepal volunteering at a company called ACP (I think.) Her job at this company is create new ceramic designs which can be used as templates by the local potters to create resellable objects. ACP is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) which works to connect local potters with larger, usually international, markets. More realistically, ACP seems to function as a reseller, buying locally and shipping internationally to resell for profit.
Shelby and I were interested to see where Ikuko works, but Shelby took off this morning quite unexpectedly, going trekking for seven days. So, it was just me.
Instead of taking me to the office where she works, Ikuko took me to Thimi, a nearby town (20-30 min. ride on the local bus) where there a lot of local potters, producing for both the local and international market.
We went to two different pottery workshops. The first place had just changed location, and was in a bigger building. It was a lovely place, with extra space now that they are in the larger building. There were 5-6 people working with clay. Two working at pottery wheels, the rest adding the final touches to the products produced by the two at the pottery wheels.
One man was making the bases for lamps. Each base was about 45 cm ( 1.5 feet) tall, and about 30 cm (1 foot) wide at it's widest point. There was a narrow top with a hole where the lamp could be inserted. The other man was making clay elephant heads. Amazing what people will buy.
At the second place they concentrated on cups, mugs, teapots and incense holders.
At each place, we were treated like royalty. We were given food, chai tea and pottery. At the time I thought we were carrying the pottery back to the ACP as samples, but Ikuko told me later they were gifts for us.
At each place they talked to Ikuko, showing her what they were working on, new designs, new kilns, etc. These guys make their own kilns. I got to see one in progress. It is a steel frame, filled in with a concrete type mixture of tar, ash, sawdust and other ingredients to make a box, which is heated electrically for small kilns (used for baking samples, one off pieces), or using kerosene for the large kilns (used for producing large runs of objects.)
And they talked about difficult it was with the rising cost of kerosene, used for running the kilns.
A mug takes about 10 minutes on the pottery wheel, about 5 minutes to decorate, 11 - 12 hours in the kiln to bake it, then it is painted and glazed and baked again.
The potter is paid $1 USD for each mug. ACP resells internationally for $2.50 USD. Ikuko says they are worth $6 - $8 USD in the States in catalogs.
posted by Jaye | 6:41 PM
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