Local potter changes traditional perceptions |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Oct 28 2011 |
Feature article:
Community perceptions about potters is gradually being altered by dynamic people like Isabel Sibiya, a very talented traditional potter from rural northern KwaZulu Natal.
Working tirelessly on her own to produce the most stunning pots of all shapes and sizes, this elderly mother and grandmother, who lives high on a mountain situated deep inside a private game reserve in the uMkhanyakude District of Maputaland, has shown how lucrative it can be to use a skill that has for many generations, been under-rated and often regarded as unimportant by her peers.
“My husband was the first to see how my craft could help our family. He encouraged me when everyone else looked down at what I did,” says Mrs Sibiya. “The rest of my family have also seen how our lives have changed for the better.
"Many members of the community can’t wait to visit me to see what I have bought with the income I get from my work. I have been able to get electricity installed and have bought items such as a fridge, freezer and stove.”
Mrs Sibiya’s success comes from working in partnership with Khumbulani Craft, a non profit organisation whose purpose is to contribute towards poverty alleviation in KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga through the design, production, marketing and sale of traditional and contemporary craft.
She giggles shyly as she chats to me, her latest visitor, about how astonished the community was when she told them she bought the items, not her sons or daughters as they originally thought.
“I have learnt so much about how to run my business and I have also been able to build onto and fix where I live which has helped me do so much more,” Mrs Sibiya points excitedly to a fairly new large round brick building behind her work room and to another square building with shiny new corrugated roofing with a water-tank connected to the gutters.
She has been working with Khumbulani Craft since 1997 and has received mentorship and training in business skills as well as assistance in accessing both national and international markets in order to sell her pots.
Sitting on a blanket on the floor of her workroom surrounded by a number of pots of varying sizes and in different stages of completion, Mrs Sibaya expertly smooths and rounds clay with her ageing hands to form the start of a medium-sized pot.
“I always wanted to be a potter. My mother was a potter. I learnt everything I know from her,” says Mrs Sibiya.
“It all starts with the right clay. I go to the river bank, as my mother always did, and carefully search for what I need as there are crocodiles and hippo in the river. After all these years, I know by the texture which will be good for my pots and which won’t.”
Without a potter’s wheel or any other modern instrument usually used by modern-day potters, Mrs Sibiya expertly kneads and builds up the consistency of the clay using the rain water collected in her water tanks. She then builds up the sides of the pot she began sculpting earlier, using nothing but her hands and small stones which have been ground smooth through years of use, to create a perfectly rounded pot.
It takes time from conception to completion of a pot with weather playing an important role in the process. After completing a pot, it needs to dry thoroughly before she can burn it in her home-made kiln deep in the ground at the back of her house.
On the day I visited, it was dull, overcast and cool, not the ideal temperature for drying clay. If it’s too hot it dries out too quickly creating weak spots. If it’s too cold or windy, the pots will crack. Living on a mountain, Mrs Sibiya has had to make a plan in order to facilitate the drying process – she covers her pots with blankets.
Her years of experience and knowledge about her craft is clear as she moves from one row of pots covered by a number of blankets to the next checking that they are drying out evenly.
“These pots need to be perfect,” she says. “I have a large order from an upmarket retailer to fulfil through Khumbulani Craft and I can’t miss my deadline or give anything that isn’t 100% right.”
Through the business training she has received through the organisation, Mrs Sibaya has learnt the importance of planning properly in order to ensure that she can meet deadlines for orders and all about the steps involved in the sales process. She also knows how essential it is to supply high quality goods to her customers in order to get repeat business.
The combination of traditional knowledge, business skills training, mentoring, assistance and external marketing has been essential in moving this potter from merely getting by on what she makes, to making a profit. It has also elevated her standing and her craft within her community as she is now a highly-regarded entrepreneur.
“I love seeing photographs of my pots in a magazine or newspaper,” says Mrs Sibiya. “It makes me proud and excited as it may mean that I get more orders. It also shows people how important traditional skills are and how we can use them, with a little business sense, to help fulfil our dreams.”
Last changed: Oct 28 2011 at 3:53 PM
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