My journey as a potter began in a hobby class, followed by two years of self-directed exploration. In 2014, I made my way to the Golden Bridge Pottery in Pondicherry for a foundational course in making, throwing and wood firing stoneware. The full time course was an immersion in a life of clay the old way, with no motorised machines, in tune with the founders’ training in Japan. Thereafter, I assisted at the La Meridiana International School of Ceramics (Italy), where I had the opportunity of learning from contemporary artists in a completely different setup.

Back home in India, I conceptualised and founded minim with my graphic design partner. While clay will always play a central part in our material board, craftsmanship and a respect for material is at the core of everything we make. For our line of mixed media objects, I make all the ceramic elements myself, usually on the potters wheel while the other elements are made by masters of their own material.

While my training was centred around making, over the years my interest has grown more in the direction of design. Today, instead of being led by an idea for a product, I let space and material shape what the objects can be, whether functional or sculptural. I find myself more interested in the interaction between space, material and object than the object in isolation.

– Pooja Agarwala