Look Who Answered the Call of the Potter's Wheel

A few years ago, while on a Himalayan road trip, a friend suggested a stopover at Andretta, a quiet village in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. We were en route to Dharamsala but this would be worth the delay, she said. It is an artists’ colony, she pointed out, with the magnificent Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas towering above. Also—and this wasn’t immaterial—there might be a treasure trove of pretty blue pots to choose from.

Andretta can prove to be an other-worldly experience or a tame walk in the woods: You decide that. Cameras in tow, we spent most of our time at Andretta Pottery. The wheels and tools at the workshop, dusty, smeared and abundantly used, invite students—including amateurs and escapists—to find themselves in pottery. The affable Mansimran ‘Mini’ Singh, who runs it, offered us chai, anecdotes, and the temptation to enroll for a summer or more. We expressed due interest but were inwardly aware and regretful of the improbability of ever doing so. The romance of a potter’s world ended for us in Andretta—at least for the time being. And the world isn’t the lesser for it.

Now, had Anita Lal resisted the call of the wheel, our living rooms and crockery shelves would have been a far duller place. Fortuitously, the founder and creator of GoodEarth, arguably one of India’s best-known home décor brands, chose to study the craft. Decades later, GoodEarth is a Rs 120-crore business, with an international presence. The growth, says the 66-year-old who trained at the famed Delhi Blue Pottery Trust (with Mini Singh, whose father Gurcharan Singh started the centre), has been scary—and wonderful.

“Managers get driven by numbers… and pressure starts mounting. I made GoodEarth into a design-led company and I want to keep it like that,” Lal told Shabana Hussain in an interview (p42). Averse to numbers and margins, she handed over the business aspect to her daughter Simran, who is CEO. “We fight but we manage to work it out,” says the 43-year-old.  As she points out, they both agree on what matters most: The design philosophy of GoodEarth which strives to make the traditional aspirational.

What has helped them thrive is the growing demand among the urban affluent for classic and old-world artefacts. Home décor stores and designers across the country have recognised this proclivity and are catering to the discerning buyer, found Benu Joshi Routh (p50). The grandeur is in the in-store experience as well as in the products, she says after browsing the genuinely vintage Great Eastern Home in Mumbai’s Byculla.

From intricate tapestry to the precision of plastic, the third prong of our cover story takes a leap into modernity. Italy’s Kartell has turned a much maligned material into upscale furniture, points out Madhu Kapparath who has curated a spread of products (p54) that belie their plastic origin.

The other treats we have rustled up for you include a glimpse into Richard Branson’s Kasbah in Morocco (p88), where the aviation billionaire entertains his famous friends and is ready to host even you (except you have to pay. A lot!). Then there is Nina Martyris’s careful selection of shopping scenes from literature (p28), in which consumerism thrills, defines and destroys the characters involved. Nonita Kalra offers a delectable selection of dining must-dos in Hong Kong (p60) and Samar Srivastava takes you on a culinary journey through Japan, which, he says, goes far beyond sushi (p68).

Happy reading and indulging!