CGCRI Gives New Life to Jaipur Blue Pottery—A Success Story

Abstract

The article deals in detail with a case study and a success story of reviving the world-famous, hand-made artistic blue pottery from collapse. The article also highlights a case of research leading to product and quality improvements and then product diversification enabling an ailing traditional blue pottery due to contents of lead in the body and glaze compositions to find new life and extended markets in the countries outside India. Apart from the presence of lead in compositions, the blue pottery also suffered from defects like water leakage due to higher porosity, fragileness due to lower strength, glaze blackening etc. The technological intervention has not only eliminated lead, a toxic material and a proven health hazard in blue pottery, but made the body five times stronger, eco-friendly, export-worthy and free from other defects of water leakage and glaze blackening. It has also been possible to implement the new technology package, introduce new design elements and product mix and train the artisans to turn out utility items like crockery and tableware that are finding increasing acceptance in the domestic and foreign markets.