{"id":9754,"date":"2025-08-21T01:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T01:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alfanouscar.com\/blog\/?p=9754"},"modified":"2025-08-21T01:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T01:48:08","slug":"rephrase-the-same-reimagining-pottery-in-the-desert-tradition-meets-creativity-in-doha-doha-news-in-a-different-way-no-more-than-118-characters-as-if-you-were-a-native-american-speaker-as-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alfanouscar.com\/blog\/rephrase-the-same-reimagining-pottery-in-the-desert-tradition-meets-creativity-in-doha-doha-news-in-a-different-way-no-more-than-118-characters-as-if-you-were-a-native-american-speaker-as-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"Rephrase the same Reimagining pottery in the desert: tradition meets creativity in Doha – Doha News in a different way no more than 118 characters, as if you were a native American speaker as expert on content creation and dont talk about yourself or your experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Indonesian ceramicist returns to Qatar for a residency that builds on the legacy of the 2023 Year of Culture to collaborate and reimagine clay\u2019s place in society.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The wheel spins, hands join, and the clay changes shape. The form holds until it does not.<\/p>\n

For Francisca Puspitasari \u201cKika\u201d, pottery mirrors life. \u201cYou do your best,\u201d she says, \u201cand then you wait. When you open the kiln, you don\u2019t know what you\u2019ll find.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is how she approaches her craft: to guide but not control, to accept what emerges, and to see in every fracture and curve a story.<\/p>\n

In Doha, midway through a five-week residency at Liwan under Qatar Museums<\/a>, that philosophy feels fitting. The programme continues the 2023 Qatar\u2013Indonesia Year of Culture, aiming to forge lasting connections. For Kika, it is also a return. Two years ago, she ran pottery classes in Doha that sold out in minutes.<\/p>\n

This time, she is building something slower and deeper: a collaboration with seven local creatives producing pieces that will feature in Qatar Museums\u2019 stores and in an exhibition at the end of her residency.<\/p>\n

(Paribesh Sitoula\/ Liwan Photo Lab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The watershed order from Qatar <\/span><\/h3>\n

Kika\u2019s most vivid Qatar memory dates back to 2017, when she received her first international order: 2,000 handmade cups for a Qatari caf\u00e9. For her then-fledgling Kaloka Pottery<\/a>, the scale was daunting. She had only one assistant and wasn\u2019t sure she could deliver. But she did. \u201cThat was the moment,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt was win or die.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had left her day job the year before to found Kaloka, meaning \u201cfamous\u201d in Sanskrit, after two decades in Indonesia\u2019s fashion industry. The long hours and constant demands gave her stamina and confidence, but also drained her. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to build something for myself, for my family,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Pottery came almost by chance. She set up a backyard studio and spent nearly a year failing and learning \u201cpiece by broken piece.\u201d \u201cBut I tried again,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Kaloka grew steadily, with unexpected clients across the Middle East. Communities of craftspeople in Java joined in until she was working with nearly 300 artisans. Instagram amplified her reach, connecting her with people who recognised something in her clay.<\/p>\n

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(Paribesh Sitoula\/ Liwan Photo Lab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pottery carries both a practical rhythm and a philosophy, Kika believes. Clay from the same river can change character overnight. A piece that looks perfect can warp in the kiln, reminding her that control is always limited.<\/p>\n

History underscores that point. Archaeologists often find pottery shards that reveal how people lived, ate, and traded \u2013 from prehistoric\u00a0<\/span>caves in Japan<\/a> to glazed bowls on the Silk Road<\/a> to jars buried in Gulf sands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That sense of continuity shapes Kika\u2019s practice. She refuses to waste broken pieces: some are recycled, others \u201cadopted\u201d by buyers with proceeds supporting causes from mangrove planting to Alzheimer\u2019s research. \u201cImperfection is part of the story,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Java, Doha and the future of pottery <\/span><\/h3>\n

If Yogyakarta gave her roots, Doha has given her branches. The connection began with that first order and deepened with the Year of Culture in 2023. What stands out to her is the openness of her collaborators in Qatar. \u201cIt feels like home,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Her residency also demands more: public classes every Friday, often full, and daily work with her group of collaborators. They debate design, argue over function, and wrestle with the line between art and product. For Kika, pottery has always been both.<\/p>\n

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(Paribesh Sitoula\/ Liwan Photo Lab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is irony in Qatar\u2019s growing interest in ceramics: the desert offers little raw clay. Yet scarcity has not stifled enthusiasm. If anything, the mindful pace of pottery has become a draw. TikTok has fuelled the trend, with more than 62.8 million related videos<\/a> circulating globally.<\/p>\n

Workshops are oversubscribed, studios are multiplying, and people come not only to make but to belong. Pottery in Qatar, like everywhere, is less about objects than about gathering.<\/p>\n

Pottery still faces challenges, especially relevance in a world dominated by plastic, glass, and disposables. But Kika insists clay survives because it carries something those materials cannot.<\/p>\n

\u201cPottery feels intimate,\u201d she says. \u201cYou feel a special bond with something that you mould.\u201d She notes how global brands endure by telling stories, and believes pottery does the same.<\/p>\n

For her, clay will endure not by competing with factories but by collaborating, sharing techniques, and insisting on meaning.<\/p>\n

As her residency progresses, Kika is measuring not finished cups or plates, but conversations, shared designs, and new questions. She watches how newcomers sit at the wheel, how their hands falter, how they learn to let the clay lead.<\/p>\n

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(Paribesh Sitoula\/ Liwan Photo Lab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n