guhagar

Guhagar is a small coastal town along the Konkan coast, where it meets the Arabian sea. There's quite a lot that happens here, mangroves, turtle nesting, beautiful patchwork quilting, unique woodwork, and also yes, pottery!

I came across a small terracotta slip-casting unit in Dhopave that was shutting down, run by the Dalvi family. Their main area of business was to make hair oil, using herbs grown on their property, with coconut oil as the base. Mrs. Dalvi was interested in branching out into making terracotta products, so went to learn wheel throwing and clay chemistry at an institute in Karnataka.

She came back to the town with her learnings and imbibed those of the local potters to create her own low-fire clay. The clay is sourced from three different places - the side of two lakes, and a space of land behind their home - to create the perfect consistency. The clay is then processed for slip casting, and products are made using plaster moulds. They also have two jigger machines to make bowls in a jigger mould. The product range included mostly tableware, and a set of larger planters.

These are neatly stacked on shelves of the train kiln - gas fired to 1000 degrees.

Plates are stacked at the back of the kiln, straight on the glass-fibre, and on their side to prevent warpage.

The town is in full bloom with flowers, every home looks like it has its own wild garden to get lost dreaming in.