Pics: Vincent Braganza
Tucked away in a bylane in Socorro, it's quite easy to miss the Banana Pottery Studio. But once you enter this pretty artistic space, you're not likely to forget it in a hurry.
Having just shifted location recently, the new space is filled with interesting detailed works all around. The big backyard behind too is also lined with ceramic works in myriad colors, some finished, some abandoned. And with the consistent cool breeze the only disturbance to the quiet all around, this space truly is a haven for a creative soul.
And keeping the creative spirit alive is exactly why Thomas Louis chose to shift to Goa. A graduate from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, Kerala born Louis ran his first studio in Bangalore (Mangrove Designs) for ten years.
“ It was quite a struggle because when you are working independently to get projects, execute them and then to deliver them all with zero facilities, because you have to do with whatever you can manage, is all very expensive,” admits Louis, adding that like plenty of his batch mates, he was sorely tempted to give up on ceramics at that point, but instead stuck through it. “ To do all the creative work on your own and then to sell it and do it all consistently was quite a long process and a problem at first. But now things are in place.”
Post the closing down of the studio, Louis worked on a museum project for the Darshan Museum in Pune and then tried to set up a studio in Mumbai. Finding it expensive to run, he and his partner then shifted to Goa and started Paper Boat Collective in 2012. “ There we were just trying to get from one month to another and there's no room for creative work. Here in Goa there was more freedom to do what we really wanted to do,” says Louis, who has since left Paper Boat to focus on ceramics . “Plus here there are a lot of other potters around and we have our own network which helps especially because we keep running out of material and depending on each other,” he says. In fact, getting material is all very 'jugaad', he states. “Anything you need you have to get from other cities like Mumbai or Bangalore, so we try to make use of as much locally available material as possible,” he says, adding that the effects of using these are different. “It's not good or bad, just different, for instance you get a different kind of finish. But it's great to be working with all kinds of materials as you get a better understanding of the material and the processes,” he explains. Elaborating further about working with clay, he says that it is all about the timing. “ You can work with clay at any stage “ right from the watery stage to the dough kind of stage, to the leather hard stages and during all these stages the clay is moving thus while working on it, you have to allow for this to happen and accordingly work so that at the later stage your work doesn't triple,” he says, adding that weather too plays a huge role, with the summer months being the most productive. “The more you work, the more you understand what has to be done and how, and you can do it as perfectly as possible This makes your work easier plus you enjoy it way better. And if you think about it you realise that this applies to everything in life too.”
Shifting to Goa, also gave Louis a chance to explore new things including creating clay musical instruments along with a friend of his. “ Once we got the basic hang of it ,we even did three performances including at the Assagao Mehfill and the Saturday Night Market last year,” he chuckles.” Now everytime we take them out, someone will bring a guitar and then we jam up and have a party!” Louis has since done seven batches of music instruments which have been evolving each time.
Another interesting thing that Louis had been working on is mobile phone speakers. “ We usually use a cup to amp up the volume of your phone, so I thought of taking this idea further and developing ceramic speakers. All you have to do is slide your phone in and it amplifies the sound by about 20-30 decibels,” he explains.
Apart from this, Louis is also currently busy working on the Chinmaya Mission outdoor museum space where they are creating six large murals of 60 by 20 feet.
Banana Pottery studio also has residency programmes and is also a space for interns from NID, where Louis lectures, to come down and learn. Louis also teaches children at a Porvorim school and conducts holiday workshops. “Working with clay is highly therapeutic - it calms you down and keeps you more focused . Thus more people need to try their hand at it,” he says.
