‘This craft is our wealth’

The air smells of clay and wood smoke. The cement floor is stained with patches of white clay stored in a large tub. Moulds and half-finished pottery items lie scattered around; there is barely any space to walk. “Watch your step,” Hameed Ahmed has to constantly remind everyone.

A young boy of 12 is at a spinning wheel, learning his paces. It’s Hameed’s son, Mohammad Salman, and the young fellow is covered in white clay dust as he pushes an underground spinning wheel with his right leg while simultaneously stretching out his left, focus writ large on his face.

“Take [the pot] off slowly,” Hameed instructs him. History is repeating itself – the 49-year-old master potter was around nine years old when he started learning the distinctive kick-wheel technique from his father. “I broke my first few pieces,” he recalls with a smile. “It comes with practice.”

One of 10 brothers, he is a seventh-generation clay craftsman. Today his family are the only ones still practising the form in the ‘ceramic city’ of Khurja, in Uttar Pradesh – a city well known for its distinctive pottery, mostly practised by Muslims.

“Our ancestors moved here from Multan [a city in Punjab, Pakistan],” says Sayeed, Hameed’s elder brother. He explains that Multani kumhars (potters) gave Khurja its distinctive pottery – a thriving livelihood for roughly 25,000 potters in Khurja today.

The Ahmed brothers’ pottery workshop is housed in a kothi that is roughly a century old and located in the inner city. The families live in separate houses but share a strong bond; the men work together. “Our unity has saved our business,” says Hameed.

Back at the wheel, Hameed’s left hand anchors the clay, while his right hand begins its dance. His fingers splay out, curving around the form. Although calloused from years of working, his touch is firm yet delicate, coaxing the clay as it rises and stretches. The pressure has to be precise — too much, and the walls collapse; too little, and the shape resists.

“Ye kalaa saare Khurje mein aur kahaan?” [Where else will you get this craft in the whole of Khurja?],” he proudly claims. “Hum log ek clay se, ek minute mein hi kayi tarah ke item bana sakte hain” [we can craft several shapes from the same mound of clay in just a minute],” says Sayeed, as Hameed’s hands work swiftly over the spinning wheel. They even make some for their own household use – teacups and plates, flowerpots and other decorative items.

The number of workers depends on the orders, and on an average three to four people work here every day, starting at nine in the morning and going on till six in the evening, stopping only for a short lunch break.

The brothers source clay and stone from Gujarat and Rajasthan respectively. Work slows down during the monsoon months as the moisture in the air does not allow the pottery to dry out properly. Demand picks up again during the festive season, particularly in the months following August. During this time, they receive the highest volume of orders, supplying to major markets in Mumbai, Delhi NCR and Bengaluru via wholesalers.

Together they produce a wide variety of ceramic products, including teapots, cups, bowls and decorative vases. The master potter loves making flower vases. “I can craft them in countless shapes and sizes,” says Hameed, with a hint of pride.

A qawwali is playing on his phone in the background as Mussavir, an employee, carefully stirs the clay in a large tub. “Consistency is key,” says the 25-year-old potter as he pours the clay into the moulds, one at a time. “It determines the quality of the final product.” Once the clay is shaped, it is left to dry before being passed to Abdul Hameed. A potter with decades of experience, he gently cleans the shaped pottery items using a water-soaked sponge, removing any rough edges and preparing each piece for the next stage: dipping in a chemical solution to enhance its sheen. “These final touches are crucial,” the 75-year-old Abdul explains, “they bring our work to life.”

Abdul Hameed once owned his own factory but now works alongside the Ahmed brothers. “Jiski jitni umar hogi, utni izzat di jaayegi [The older you are, the more respect you’re given here],” Sayeed adds, as he oversees the entire operation.

Pottery is a largely male-dominated field in Khurja. “Women in our family don’t work,” says Hameed. But they do employ women in the workshop to “wash, clean and handle pottery items manually, wherever needed,” he explains.

The women work inside a large godown at the workshop: Shabana Khan is washing ceramic plates along with around 20 women. “We do this for six hours a day and earn Rs. 300 daily,” says the 48-year-old Shabana, carefully scrubbing a smooth, white plate. The sound of water splashing and clinking of plates fills the godown space.

“This is the kind of plate you see in five-star hotels,” she adds, her voice reflecting a quiet pride in the work.

“There used to be around 200 coal-fired down-draft kilns in Khurja,” says Sayeed Ahmed. Among the brothers, Sayeed is the one who mostly deals with customers. “Each kiln would fire pots in 120-hour cycles, belching thick black smoke that clouded the sky,” he continues, “it was an intense, non-stop process. A part of life here for generations.”

By the 1990s, these coal-fired kilns, which were labour-intensive and environmentally hazardous, had been abandoned and replaced by more efficient diesel and then oil-fired shuttle kilns and tunnel kilns. This cut firing cycles to two or three days and reduced energy costs. The use of natural gas – driven by a 2016 National Green Tribunal order – has helped Naved Khan’s India Art Ceramics, which has been around since 1972. Referring to the order, this large workshop owner says: “it [natural gas] ’s a big step forward for sustainable pottery and it's helping us produce more with less waste.”

But for the Ahmed brothers and other small-scale potters, it has spelled bad news.

The Ahmed family own a coal-fired down-draft (DD) kiln since 1946 which they stopped using in the 1990s. Since then, they have relied on other firing facilities in the town.

“We don’t have the money or space for a gas-operated plant,” says Sayeed. Near their house, their coal-fired DD kiln stands idle, as do the other chimneys that populate Khurja’s skyline.

While natural gas facilities promise efficiency and lower energy costs, the high upfront investment—estimated at Rs.2-2.5 crore for a kiln—has made it inaccessible to many artisans. Hameed says, “there are many small potters who took loans to sustain their business that they could not repay. So, they had to quit.”

Small potters are forced to rent gas-powered firing facilities, further squeezing their already slim profit margins. With 35 per cent of the Ahmed brothers’ budget allocated to renting kiln space, rising production costs and inconsistent access to firing services leave them struggling to stay competitive, especially as wealthier potters monopolise access to modern kilns.

Hameed explains that their profit margin ranges from 5 -15 per cent now, but when they used the coal-fired kilns, they managed a higher profit of up to 30 per cent. This was because they didn’t have to spend on transport and rented burning facilities. “The big potters who use machines earn higher margins because their productivity is high,” says Hameed.

Several small-scale potteries shut-down after the coal ban,” says Sayeed and adds, “but we are still running because losses don’t matter to us; this craft is our wealth.”
Moving the items is not an easy task and there is always a chance of breakage. Sometimes, the brothers have to wait for many days for a trolley which will transport the items to Naved’s factory. Naved charges around Rs.3,000 for the service, but the factory owner’s actual expense, Hamid insists, is approximately Rs. 1,200. “Even if we get defective or damaged goods, we still have to pay the full amount,” says Sayeed.

For 24 hours, the pieces remain in the kiln and undergo a three-phase process which begins with pre-heating followed by firing and finally cooling. The first phase, in which temperatures range from 500 to 750 degrees Celsius, lasts for 10 hours. In the second stage, the temperatures can go up to 1250 degrees over a four-hour period. In this stage, the clay hardens before it is set down to cool in the last stage. In the cooling zone, temperatures gradually decrease from 900 to 200 degrees Celsius over 10 hours.

“The precision in every phase is crucial,” Hameed explains, “because even a slight deviation can affect the final product.”

Despite the cooling process, the pots remain hot and need to be handled carefully. “The cooling stage requires as much attention as firing,” notes Mukund, one of the workers. “If the pots cool too quickly, they could crack.”

After enduring hours of intense heat, the gleaming ceramics emerge from the kiln, ready for sale.

“This is where all our hard work pays off,” Hameed says with a satisfied smile.