Social media gives age-old Goa pottery a new life

ARMSTRONG VAZ

The last time I met a Goan potter or kumbar, as they are commonly known, was some three decades ago, thanks, in a large measure to tourist-guide-turned-tourism-entrepreneur, Charles D’Silva from Canaguinim.

Every time Charles took his customers, most of them Western tourists, on guided tours, especially to a Goan kumbar on Agonda beach, there was a huge demand for Goan pottery items as visitors like to dip into the local art and take home some mementos which can be identified as unique to the place they have visited.

Pottery products are made either by hand or on the wheel. There are three main types of pottery: earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. Goan pottery items like the gurgulet (the water cooler), budkulo, modki, cudnem and maitull have survived the test of time and are much in demand but the people making them are in short supply.

Pottery as an age-old art form still thrives in Goa, but maybe not being made by the traditional artisans.

The old man from Agonda, who was the lone surviving potter of the locality died a few years ago, leaving a big void. On his death Charles was left to look for other options. The search for a new generation Goan potter was not easy, with most potter’s family shunning the profession.

It was not just Agonda where you could not find potters. In two wards of Cuncolim – Panzorconi and Biunsa – where many potters once practiced the art and earned a living, with both known for its Catholic kumbar community, you will today not find a single Goan potter or kumbar.

However, one thing Charles is upbeat about, is the interest Goan pottery has created and the resultant sale for the Goan pottery items, thanks to the advent of social media.

Also upbeat is Marius Fernandes, popularly known as Goencho Festakar. “I just love pottery made from the soil of Goa by very skilled potters. Thankfully, due to social media there has been a resurgence with lots of young Goans buying pottery. Ghumat, another popular mud item and state heritage musical instrument of Goa, is in high demand too,” he says. 

Some of the suggestions were: “Antonio Vaz Dicarpale Nessai; Quepem Sunday market; Sirvoi Quepem; Raia church has a permanent display of earthenware near the cemetery; John Fernandes Quepem; Mapuça market; Margao Gandhi Market; Verna near panchayat; they do it in Cumborda Verna; near Todapa Khuris; San Jose de Areal; go to Vadem and ask for Porter Vales, he makes them to your specifications.”

One of them was more specific, “To find the right clay and the baking you will have to find the right person and offer double, but tell him it is to be made with love, you will find in Bicholim or interior Canacona.” The potters of Bicholim and Marcela are more into aesthetics and have works for sale in both terracotta and in ceramic glaze.

Closer home, Margao had its Modki bazaar at Gandhi market. If you travel a little farther from Margao, to the coastal villages of Majorda and Arossim a different renaissance of the art form is taking shape.

'Mid-Week Ceramics', a course at Carpe Diem, helps one to try one’s hand at pottery in five sessions. A few kilometers away in Arossim 'Centre Punch' is the brainchild of the artist Simonie Rego, who is trying her best to save it by giving it time and energy.

“It’s not easy and I know it first hand as my daughter trained under her for a few days for her college project. She would come home tired, dirty, sweaty after spending just three hours at the studio, learning basic pottery,” says fellow villager Ella Mascarenhas.

“Simone spends about twelve hours at the studio, sometimes making just one pot per day. She has to get the clay ready by kneading it, then shape the clay on the potter’s wheel as per the design she is working on, add intricate patterns, flowers, etc to give it her own personal touch. She has to keep the items to dry, bake them on wood fire for a minimum three hours to get the final product which is ready to go up on one of the shelves for sale,” adds Ella.

Vocal for local as Ella is, she says, “Let us unite and help our local girl sell her products which are beautiful. Simone glazes a few of her products, like cups, mugs, bowls so they can be 'food ready'. I see such products manufactured on a large scale by big factories and sold by lifestyle.”

At Centre Punch she sells her items which come handy for people to gift to friends or simply to beautify their home and garden.

Simonie has not stopped at just her store, she also trains people in pottery with the young and old welcomed at her classes. When there are youngsters like Simonie, pottery in Goa is in safe hands.