Tools and Materials

Today the community still works much as it has for more than a hundred years. The potters use the indigenous red and grey clay in the manufacturing of their wares. They still bake in the traditional brick kilns even though getting the cotton to fuel them is getting increasingly difficult. However, the changing cityscape has affected them, and they have had to start modernizing or face extinction.

The cotton mills of Mumbai have long since closed down and waste cotton is a scarce commodity. The cotton waste has to be shipped from Gujarat which increased the cost of the finished product. Due to this difficulty and the added sanctions on air pollution, the potters are now looking into gas powered kilns.

The clay they use is no longer found around Dharavi and is instead shipped to them by the truckload from across the country, most notably Rajkot and Ahmadabad. This clay is gathered at Bhiwandi and Kalyan and then supplied in trucks to the potters of Khumbarwada. The yearly consumption of clay varies according to the potter’s needs, with small-scale producers using just 2-3 truckloads whilst large-scale producers use up to 12-14 truckloads.

Most of the potters today have also forsaken the manually driven potter’s wheel for electric ones. Since an electric wheel is a one time, upfront cost which requires little in terms of maintenance the potters consider it to be a good investment which makes their life a little easier.