One of our leading ceramists, Nabahat Lotia is not half as keen to talk about her own self as she is about her current project. She’s documenting the works of potters in different parts of Pakistan who have been making their livings through this traditional craft. Nabahat has been travelling to many towns and villages, observing local potters and taking notes, as well as taking photographs of them along with their creations.

Born in Lahore in the 1950s (she avoids mentioning the year) in a family that migrated from Delhi at the time of Partition, Nabahat went almost every weekend with her father and her siblings to Prem Nagar, a village not too far from Lahore, where her father had some agricultural land. The trips widened her mental horizons, but her passion for pottery was to come later.

After doing her Intermediate in Arts from Kinnaird College in Lahore, she took admission in the reputable National College of Arts, where she ran into Husnain Lotia, who hailed from Karachi. He was on the verge of graduating in architecture, which he did before he wedded Nabahat. They belonged to different sects so the going was not easy. The wedding happened thanks to her US-based elder sister, who helped them tie the nuptial knot in New York.

The couple moved to Karachi, where Husnain Lotia joined the leading architect Habib Fida Ali as his assistant. A few years later he was transferred to Lahore, where his mentor had been awarded the contract for the architectural designing of the upcoming Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums). The two-and-a-half-year stay proved fruitful for Nabahat. She got to study closely the work of potters at a place called Qainchi Chowk.

Nabahat Lotia’s love for pottery drove her to learn how the art is practised in different cultures. Now she is on a mission to preserve our own

The senior-most potter there, known as Ramzan Chacha, was impressed with Nabahat’s immense interest in pottery. He took her under his wing and introduced her to the potter’s wheel and the firing of the kiln. Nabahat spent hours practising the craft. She, however, felt that by and large the potters in Qainchi Chowk, as indeed elsewhere, were making pots featuring the same monotonous designs.

She helped them create new styles and exhibited their works in the spacious garden of her Gulberg residence. The exhibition was a big success. This was followed by two more such events at the same venue and, once, in a newly commissioned art gallery.

Unforeseen circumstances forced the Lotias to shift back to Karachi. Four or five years later, they moved to Toronto, where Husnain began his practice, while Nabahat got the opportunity to join a ceramists’ club and visit museums and galleries exhibiting the craft. She learnt the ancient Japanese technique called Raku, which lends an astonishingly lovely look to the object when fired at 700 degrees Celsius.

Always open to new ideas, Nabahat then learned the Obvara technique of firing ceramic objects in Turkey and held shows in Karachi and Lahore. She also conducted workshops at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, from where she ultimately graduated in Ceramics in 2009.

Back to her labour of love, this writer was amazed at the enormous material she has collected in documenting and archiving the pottery in Pakistan. She has a verbal agreement with a reputed publishing house to make the publication available next year.

As for her own practice, this writer was impressed with the fluency with which she whirled the wheel at her studio, housed in her Clifton bungalow, where she also has a kiln to fire her creations and large drums to store the clay. Not many ceramists in our cities have those kind of facilities. However, full marks to Nabahat for opening her doors to some of them.

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 1st, 2021