Redefining studio pottery

By Rashika Fazali

The art of pottery is thousands of years old. From the Greeks, to the Chinese and the Romans, humans have mastered the art of pottery, designing some of the most unique pottery the world has ever seen.

Today, pottery is not used as often as before, although there is a huge percentage of pottery ware being used in the rural homes of Sri Lanka. However, it is very hard to find fully-fledged potters in the country who are in the line of designing, producing and manufacturing technically; termed as studio pottery.

This modern art form is the skill of creating unique art often in small quantities, ranging from tableware or cookware. Anuradha Ceramics Founder and Chairman Ajith Mohan Perera is one individual who has mastered this art over the years, having founded his company in 1986 and then opened his shop ‘The Pottery Shop’ in 1991, located at Majestic City.

It all started when Perera felt the need to revolutionise the pottery industry, which subsequently took him many places and landed him his first exhibition at the National Art Gallery in 1984. He went onto hold many other exhibitions in 1993, 1996 and in 2006.

Today, Perera has a market of his own where he supplies many of his unique products to many renowned hotel chains in and around the country, such as the Jetwing Hotels Group, Hilton Colombo, Cinnamon Grand, etc.

He specialises in providing a tableware range such as plates, dishes, oil burners etc and has recently come up with a bath amenities range designed specially for hotels. His products are also supplied to leading shopping centres such as Odel, Arpico and for the Airport Duty Free lounge.

A unique aspect of his products is that they are microwave, dishwasher and oven-safe. Typically, you can use the products for anything but this lies in the time-consuming process involved in producing them.

The pottery process starts off with designing and moulding the clay which is entirely done by Perera. Usually, the designing process could take a minimum of five minutes and once that’s done, the product is left to dry.

After a full day of drying, the next step is the trimming, where using an electric potter wheel, the product is smoothened to perfection. The finishing of the product with the use of water or colour takes place next.

The product has to undergo two firing processes; the bisque and glazing firing process. In the bisque process, the oven heat is kept at 900 degrees with the product left inside for an eight hour period. In the glazing process, the product is kept at a temperature of 1200 degrees and left for 10 hours. The next eight hours are left for cooling. All production takes place at his factory in Bokundara which employs 20 potters.  

As a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project, Perera teaches children and adults the art of pottery in Udawalawe.

He also has big plans for this year. He will be holding an exhibition which will showcase his studio pottery designs and products at Park Street Mews on 28, 29 and 30 July, while the company plans to launch its new website and a product catalogue at this occasion as well.