“Pottery is so much science than art. It is a technical, time-consuming process where art comes in when the piece is created. It calls for intensive labor and patience.”
Just like the craft of pottery, Parul is always on the clock. A global woman who has been around the world, she studied and worked, but never had the opportunity to get formally acquainted with pottery. With a strike of luck and fate, she chanced upon a potter’s wheel.
Adjusting to life in New Delhi after coming back from New Zealand was not an easy transition. But she held on to her active, physically fit, and disciplined lifestyle. As outdoorsy as she is, one winter morning as she was walking through the lawns of Anandgram Farmhouse in MG Road, she came across a rustic little shelter. On closer inspection, it turned out to be the Delhi Blue Pottery by Sanskriti Foundation. An instructor welcomed her in and that is when she tried her hand on the traditional potter’s wheel for 2-3 hours nonstop. And then she just kept going back!
Parul started her independent studio, called Pretty Potter around 2014. Learning and slowly evolving in her comfort level, she moved from the wheel to slab pottery and slowly started experimenting with more techniques like hand building. From simpler pieces, she moved to wall installations and a more nature-inspired theme with floral and organic pieces. She also educated herself and started making in-house glazes. She visualizes her pieces and even dreams them to fruition. And she loves them all!
“There is a feeling of achievement and thrill in a well-thrown piece - Centering the clay, feeling it take shape and the wheel bringing it to life!” Pottery taught her many life lessons from detachment to patience. The turn out time is always long and if the piece doesn't come out as expected, “you gotta let it go!”
Handcrafting tableware, like a good bowl or mug brings her true joy. She prefers her pieces to be airy, light, fluid, organic, clean, and simple. With an iron-rich Thangarh clay, she crafts highly-fired stoneware in her 8-hour work day at the studio where she works non-stop, the break only being a gym workout or a few laps of swimming. She believes she was never creative or artistically inclined. Her technique is methodical, and skill-based with bouts of visual inspiration. Her pieces hence are left subjective - one feels what they want to feel when they see, touch, or use her incredible craft!
