I was working with clay & fine arts from as early as 2005 primarily to keep myself engaged in what I like to do. The idea of formally launching a brand and opening an exclusive Pottery Studio was envisaged in the year 2010 when I decided to give a professional face to my art and that’s when Mud Effects was born as a registered Brand under the Indian Trademark Registry, Govt of India.

Prior to this I was more inclined towards showcasing my creations through various platforms like exhibitions, corporate workshops and social media. This went on for few a years until it occured to me that having a proper setup is the way to unleash the next level of creativity and spread the art to many others. That’s how the Studio came into existence. It is indeed a long journey and is still continuing.

The expertise & craftsmanship not only reflects in the final product but also in each stage that is involved in making the masterpiece. The finished product is outcome of various smaller stages of expertise. In a nutshell, expertise at each level is important. Keeping that as a thumb rule, at Mud Effects we teach multiple facets & processes involved in pottery making. We also believe that every aspiring potter has his own niche of skills & it naturally comes out gradually. We help them nurture this natural inclination and that’s how every piece created by a each potter becomes unique. We also cover technical aspects of the raw material and their behaviours and reaction to various techniques. This gives a holistic understanding to a potter and triggers design thinking within them – which is very important.

Most of our customers & reviews appreciate this way of training. For us, it reinstates the fact that we are doing what’s right for a person to learn. In each potter we closely observe these indications of natural inclination & accordingly mold the training in that direction.

And that’s where our expertise lies. It is not just the coaching but giving a direction to them for developing their individual expertise and niche of art.

Having said that, I was also aware that for any professional setup one has to face multiple challenges and the biggest out of them is the cost. Like any new startup we too faced teething issues in various forms. Pottery Studio is a unique setup and there really aren’t many resources, consultation or support available for people who want to open a pottery studio. I was all on my own right from thinking till execution. This took away a lot of productive time that I would rather have spent on my art.

The only positive for me was “acceptance” of my work by the customers. I has observed this over many years that my art is being loved by many. This gave a lot of confidence to invest and put all the savings in opening my own Pottery Studio. The second challenge was to find an appropriate place which again was a very unique requirement. What was available in market were shops, offices and co-working spaces. My requirement was very different from all these as I wanted an open,airy, vibrant and sunny setup which is apt for creative work of pottery. It took 2 years for me to find the right space at the optimum cost. There were many other challenges which are common to other startups too. Though they were pretty small as compared to the two I mentioned.