The Mud House is fully equipped to bring the potter’s art to life.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

Founded by Preeti Pawani and directed by Aneesha Rai, The Mud House, in Al Quoz, Dubai, is a ceramics studio for workshops, events, artists’ spaces, and many more of such. It is being hailed as a growing studio of ‘Clayers’ in Dubai and the larger UAE. Are you interested in learning more about pottery? Are you a ceramic artist or just want to play around with clay? At The Mud House, students, potters, artists, teachers, interior designers, architects and anyone who shares an intense desire for the potter’s craft, can explore the immense beauty of clay, singly or together.

The Mud House provides innovative pottery workshops suited to all ages seven and above, and will insist on your creating original ceramic designs in an enriching environment. The two-storey sprawling space in the heart of bustling Al Quoz offers a multi-dimensional experience. It has an area for hand-building, a section for pottery wheels, kilns, glazing, an exclusive Potter’s Only area for members, a potter’s boutique boasting tools, glazes, clay, and a lounge, serving hot and cold refreshments (for those singed by the heat).The Mud House also offers made-to-order items for all one’s ceramic needs, with the studio catering to the interior design and hospitality industries.

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It also creates customised tiles for walls and floors, functional and non-functional artworks and accessories, as well as dinnerware and serveware. “The Mud House allows for a non-intimidating and enriching space where people, beginners and artists alike, can develop their skills and experiment with clay,” say the organisers. “This is not just a studio: it’s a supportive community, built on the freedom to make mistakes and learn numerous innovative ceramic techniques with other like-minded lovers of clay. “The studio is available for personalised events and workshops for anyone interested in learning more about ceramics, or simply having fun with clay!”

 Having fun at work at The Mud House.

Rai, who is also CEO, says that “The Mud House was created to share our love, knowledge and mysteries of the world of ceramics with everyone walking through those doors.

“We can help people bring their ideas to life. The studio is a space for everyone from people wanting to learn, to individuals, designers or architects who are doing up their spaces and need custom tiles, dinnerware or simply bespoke conversation pieces.” “It’s about exploring one’s creativity in a safe environment that encourages one to experiment and make mistakes and ultimately learn to accept imperfections graciously. All while having fun and learning something in the process,” says Pawani. Pottery is the process of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard, durable form. Major types  include earthernware, stoneware and porcelain.

Pottery is made by forming a ceramic (often clay) body into objects of a desired shape and heating them to high temperatures (600-1600°C) in a bonfire, pit or kiln inducing reactions that lead to permanent changes, including increasing the strength and rigidity of the object. Much pottery is purely utilitarian, but much can also be regarded as ceramic art.

Pottery is one of the oldest human inventions, originating before the Neolithic period, with ceramic objects like a figurine discovered in the Czech Republic dating back to 29,000–25,000 BCE.

Pottery vessels that were discovered in Jiangxi, China, date back to 18,000 BCE. Pottery artifacts have also been found in Sub-Saharan Africa (9,400 BCE) and the Middle East (7,000s-6,000s BCE). People have been practicing pottery in the United Arab Emirates since the third millennium BCE (3000 BCE-2000 BCE), with recovered fragments demonstrating a high level of craftsmanship and a diversity of forms. Some of those forms continue to be used today. Using clay, these early potters produced a range of containers, including those used for preserving and transporting food, or presenting sacrifices to ancient gods. Other pottery works include incense containers, vases and braziers.

Among the pottery forms still in use are the Hib, an earthen pot that is highly effective for cooling drinking water in hot, dry desert conditions; the Bumrah, a container for storing and preserving fresh milk; and the Chirr, a vessel for storing dates and dried fish. Iron Age pottery discovered in the Saruq Al Hadid area of Dubai has carved snake shapes slithering across an impressive storage jar, hinting at a possible religious ritual of the time — the worship of snakes. Some of the most important pottery vessels discovered in the UAE are those from the Umm Al Nar civilisation (circa 2600 BCE-2000 BCE). They are a window into Bronze Age society.

Further to the north, Iznik pottery, or Iznik ware, named after the town of Iznik in western Anatolia where it was made, is a decorated ceramic that was produced from the last quarter of the 15th century until the end of the 17th century. İznik was an established centre for the production of simple earthernware pottery when, in the last quarter of the 15th century, craftsmen in the town began to manufacture high quality pottery with a fritware body painted with cobalt blue under a colourless transparent lead glaze.

The designs combined traditional Ottoman arabesque patterns with Chinese elements. The change was almost certainly a result of active intervention and patronage by the recently established Ottoman court in Istanbul, who greatly valued Chinese blue-and-white porcelain.