Wednesday, November 26, 2008

ceramic passion re-visited..











my 16yr old eldest daughter and her study group had chosen my business as their project-topic, so off we went down to my ipoh-factory yesterday all-day, followed by my second 12yr old girl..








i've never had the patient and inclination to teach or to impart any kind of knowledge to anybody very well before, hence i asked eda-bey my fellow ceramist and currently the person in charge of perak's ceramic facilities to explain technicalities on my behalf..








i had also sms-arranged with eda-bey earlier on to let 'my students' experience and learn first-hand some of the production techniques involved in my line of work.. and we've agreed to let the kids use the potters-wheels ala demi moore's character in GHOST the movie..








i was actually quite apprehensive when my eldest first told me about their choice of topic for this school project eventhough i felt very honoured and felt so mushy inside that she'd kinda promoted hence proposed her mum's creative-venture to her friends.. you see, my girl and i have both similar 'degil' traits that have often reared their ugly heads so many times and at the same times the past 16 years that we've 'known' each other, that we're often at loggerheads about many things eversince she was a toddler..!!








but that was not the real reason why i was apprehensive.. without stating the obvious here, i deflected my daughter's original intention to study 'the person behind the venture' towards.. 'the production stages behind the finished products'..








how could i let her study 'that person' when that person's blog is somewhat titled 'i'm in this business by accident'.. and she's always blogging about being lost quite often...??? ;)








so there i was.. with my 2 daughters and their 3 friends.. in my factory that i accidentally started some 15 years ago.. learning the basics of ceramics all over again.. remembering those excitements and passions that used to catapult me to achieve higher and go farther...








enjoy these works of art...




























5 comments:

_deli said...

mungkal_salam,
now that i know you're in the cyberspace, i'll be frequenting you, god willing.
on the 'degil' traits; as the old saying goes... ke mana tak tumpahnya kuah kalau tak ke nasi. to learn about ourselves, we need not look too far; tengok aja anak-anak tu (unlike the mirror; these speaks). often than never i'd shreek, "...perangai siapa...”, only to realize that it's all mine.
sigh...

The Ceramic Designer said...

hahaha.. wksalam.. yeah, yeah, yeah.. i've realized this a long time ago actually.. i've always looked at it as part of God's punishment to me, coz i was degil towards my mum as well!!! ;)

i look at it as a blessing in disguise coz i'm now more patient, understanding and compassionate to my mum eversince becoming a mum myself.. now hoping that my girl would eventually turn likewise when she grows up..

and also half-hoping that she's reading this.. ;)))

RozIlah Kamarudin said...

i find the new pieces posted interesting...very different and could make something out of this..

The Ceramic Designer said...

hi hi madam olie..!!!
heard that u came back to m'sia and then almost immediately went back to the children left behind in egypt..?? ;)

it was difficult being a weekend family for 7yrs when i was much younger.. i'm betting it's a lot more difficult now that we're older, with set priorities and all
.. no?

The Ceramic Designer said...

eh terlupa..
the pieces posted here must be done individually 100% by hand, coz moulding would not be able o capture all those interesting intricate details..

i was passionately doing this during my early years (ie. playing clay with my bare-hands, everyday in my tattered jeans, face comot and all..) and eventually thought to myself: i can do better than this.. hence i opted for moulding so that my staff can duplicate the items faster..and i could just sketch on paper, run other errands and find more businesses..

some items can be duplicated in bodies, then motive-handrafted totally by hand and they'd look 100% handmade.. but these items posted here are exeptions.. they still have to be made totally by hand from scratch..

what ideas do you have in mind..??