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Divine spark The school reviving endangered sacred arts
The Guardian Weekly
|August 09, 2024
The small city of Nasarpur, in the province of Sindh in Pakistan, has a centuries-old reputation for its ceramics.
That's why, when the ceramic worker Ghulam Hyder Daudpota decided to come all the way to London to master his craft, he said "it seemed futile". But, he added: "It turned into a lifechanging opportunity."
Daudpota grew up with eight siblings in a city where the mosques and shrines are embellished with terracotta and blue glazed tiles, known as the art of kashikari. He spoke little English until the age of 27, and his parents had "no deep pockets" to pay his tuition fees.
But the talented Pakistani secured a full scholarship at the King's Foundation school of traditional arts (KFSTA) in east London, before returning to his country and helping to revive the dying craft.
"Kashikari is ubiquitous across Sindh, but when I was growing up it was considered to be a dying craft and only a few craftsmen were practising," Daudpota said from his Nasarpur workshop, which now employs 40 people.
This story is from the August 09, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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