Arjun Found Steady Work in Clay

Arjun is in his fifties, with the careful, deliberate hands of someone who has worked all his life. When the textile workshop that employed him shut down, he found that few people wanted to hire a man his age. Months of looking turned into a year.

He joined our training programme sceptical that he could learn something so new. But experience turned out to be his advantage. His patience, his eye for detail, his refusal to let a piece leave his bench until it was right — these made him a natural at trimming and finishing, the stage where a rough pot becomes a refined one.

“I thought my best years were behind me,” he says. “Here, they tell me my care is worth something.” Arjun now mentors younger trainees, passing on the discipline that took him a lifetime to learn.