kurinuki collection

Elena Renker, a ceramicist from New Zealand, known mainly for her shino glaze and making pots with the Kurinuki technique, held a workshop at Golden Bridge Pottery in February 2020. Kurinuki is a Japanese term referring to the hand-building technique of starting with a solid block of clay and hollowing it out to create an interior.

 

At the workshop, my aim was to create vessels that hold and stack, faceted and hand carved into the shape that accounts for function, to allow something to be held. Coming from a baniya Gujrati family, the community tradition of always traveling with food in a dabba, was something I wanted to explore. The stacked tiffin, that doubles up as bowls is a container of culinary history, where merchants would travel with dry food, packed lunches.

 

My take on the same, is marked with tools I found around me, piece of wood, a spiralled wire, and other throwing tools. The stoneware pots were wood fired with heavy reduction, a method used often by Elena.

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