Potters of a nondescript village in Kerala are using an exotic French decorative art technique to transform ordinary terracotta pots into customised gift.
KOCHI: Potters of a nondescript village in Kerala are using an exotic French decorative art technique to transform ordinary terracotta pots into customised gift articles, thus finding newer markets for their products.
Thanks to the training provided by Integrated Rural Technology Centre (IRTC), potters of Mundur village in Palakkad district are using the 'decoupage' technique to decorate products, even using Ravi Varma paintings, Da Vinci portraits and Micheal Angelo masterpieces.
And this has come as a blessing for the potters who were earlier finding it difficult to make two ends meet as their terracotta pots and pans were hardly finding any market.
The potters are now sending their products to Delhi, Mumbai and other cities, says Dr M Lalithambika, Project Coordinator, IRTC.
About 600 potter families in 40 colonies have been given a three-day training in the French decorative art, she said.
While women potters are trained free of cost, their male counterparts have to shell out Rs 600 for the training, Lalithambika, a retired ceramics scientist with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), said.
Photographs of a memorable occasion can be painted on to a vase using the technique. One can either buy a beautiful piece off the shelf or supply a photograph with an appropriate message and take back a personalised gift after a week.
The demand for the products have picked up and there had been enquiries from places, including the national capital's famous craft bazaar 'Dilli Haat', Lalithambika said.
"We get good orders for the painted terracotta pots and the potters are happy," she said.
The potters get work of at least Rs 300 a day now, while they were finding it difficult to sell their terracotta utensils earlier, he said.
The project, which began three years ago, is supported by the Science and Society Division of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India The products have been exhibited at the Swadeshi Science Exhibition, now under way here.
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