A Commission's story
Here’s a case study of a 28-piece terracotta tableware/ dinner set commission I did recently.
AK was a dynamic professional who managed a busy work and family life with children and parents. She was also super excited about her new home and wanted to create a full dinner set for the family table. AK was brimming with ideas so I invited her to my studio so she could see all the different vessels I made, and we could discuss the ideas in form, colour and function to match her needs. I observed that food played a central role in bring the family around the table and she wanted to celebrate the family time with a new dinner set to match the design and décor of the new house. It was an auspicious gesture. The conversation gave me a deeper understanding about the type of food she loved making, the colour, texture, fragrance, equally, the functionality around use and cleaning it mattered. The vessels had to be versatile to celebrate the varied cuisines she made. It had to marry the traditional Indian values with contemporary living.
A week later, based on the conversations and the copious notes and drawings i had made, I proposed to AK a themed set of tableware, each vessel slightly different in form and surface decoration but they certainly belonged together. I sent her a quote for the same. To the surface decorations I suggested adding little Sanskrit scripts from the ancient Upanishads that evoked a sense of well-being. AK, loved the idea so much that she decided to source the script herself for each pot, so it made it personal and meaningful to her and her family. I also shared with her the nature of the hand-made, that she was buying into.
Over the course of the making process, I shared spontaneous images of the evolving forms from the potter’s wheel so AK had a sense of participating in the creation process. Those moments were special for both of us. In 6 weeks, the commission was completed, and I invited AK to the home where the collection was displayed at the dining table for her to see in full splendour. Needless to say, my heart was in my mouth!
AK loves and enjoys the vessels on a daily basis and I had the honour of being invited to her home and being served a delightful meal in the tableware that were born in my studio.
Since then many more vessels have left the pottery studio to join AK’s collection in her kitchen.
A quick note on the geography of the clients. Not all clients who have commissioned tableware have visited my studio, but the quality of engagement was similar and conducted virtually.
