Manipur’s rich heritage cast in clay through resilience

IMPHAL, Nov 16

The products of ‘Terracotta.Manipur’ go beyond pottery. Rooted in tradition, each piece is handcrafted with love, blending age-old techniques. From earthy pots to intricate planters and soulful decor, the creations bring warmth and beauty into one’s home, office or any other space. But to reinvent terracotta in a place where pottery is part of tradition and mould it to utilitarian art is no mean feat.

Wairok Cherry Makunga, founder of Terracotta.Manipur, is a child of Manipur’s foothills who has seen pottery close to life. Now, she has mastered the moulding of traditional Manipur pottery into an expression of clay art. But it wasn’t easy.

Cherry grew up in the warmth of her Naga father W Phaniphang Maring and Meitei mother W Ibemcha Maring at Phunal Sambum village in Chandel district. When her father, a schoolteacher, died in 2004, it changed everything for the family. Cherry was barely 10 and her brother was six. Their mother, a housewife, was at her wit’s end.

The family moved to Kakching Lamkhai, 5 kms away. Her mother started a small business from a rented structure to make sure her children had what they needed. She would travel miles to the India-Myanmar border town of Moreh to buy clothes and sell them.

Those early years shaped her. After Class 12, she moved to Delhi for studies. A well-wisher bought her flight ticket while all that her mother could give her was Rs 3,000, loaned from a micro chit fund. Cherry earned a diploma in medical laboratory technology and moved to Rajasthan to pursue her masters in microbiology.

She returned to Manipur in August 2019 after post-graduation and joined a private hospital in Kakching as a lab supervisor. One day, she went to a shop and bought pottery items for around Rs 250. One of her acquaintances liked the products and purchased them from her at Rs 350. Buoyed by profits, she started a business. She would buy pottery items and sell them.

“Clay products are eco-friendly. I noticed that people were making and selling only traditional pots. I thought I could start a business by making modern and artistic pots for décor,” Cherry says. She began working with the inmates of a woman's old age home but they were inclined to make traditional pots.

This was when she came across a young and promising man Roshan Leimapokpam, who dealt in traditional pottery items. A group of local artisans was roped in and Terracotta.Manipur was founded in 2021.

“We started offering handmade terracotta pots, planters, home decors, flower vases, candle and lamp stands, lamp reflectors, ritualistic items, tea and coffee cups,” says Cherry. The products, sold through their outlet in Kakching and Instagram, are available at many restaurants, cafes and studios of Manipur.

TNIE