From Guitars Glaze

In a studio in a little village in Goa, Mayank Jain makes inspired creations out of clay and teaches hopefuls how to throw a pot!

How did you fall in love with clay?

MJ: Slowly and steadily! When I started learning, it was fascinating to see clay transform from a muddy lump to a dome in the center of the wheel and then into various shapes and forms. The fascination grew as I learnt how to finish, glaze and fire pots. With ceramics, the more one explores the more mesmerizing and enticing it becomes, because the possibilities are endless.

Give us a glimpse of your life before pottery.

MJ: I graduated from Delhi University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Studies. I had started working for FM radio, which was in its incipient stages at that time, and used to produce shows while still in college. After graduation, I joined a private FM station and worked there for a year as a producer before the government shut down private radio.

That’s when I then joined advertising as a copywriter, made some print, television and radio commercials, won an award for an ad film and also wrote and made a short independent film which got screened at a couple of film festivals. Then, the first phase of FM licensing brought back private FM to the country and I joined Radio City, Delhi, as a part of the programming team that launched the station. My last job was with Radio City as their National Creative Head, based in Mumbai, creating and managing content across 17 stations in the country.

What prompted the move to pottery?