WOMEN RISING - Pottering Around! ARTEL by BINA ALI

Interviewed by Adil Ahmad, and published in TCS CONNECT Corporate News Magazine, 

January 2014 Volume 13 Issue 1

In 1995 a young and energetic first year NCA student of textile design came down to Karachi from Lahore during her vacations, and teamed up with three friends from the Karachi Arts Council to form ARTEL with a view to doing something productive during the summer break. ARTEL literally means a group of craftsmen and artisans, and the work they had in mind had a lot to do with a revival of craftsmanship. They started with a group of potters in the Mauripur area making ‘hukkahs’ using garbage fired primitive furnaces, which they exported to the UAE. “We trained them to make the products we had in mind with greater finesse,” says Bina Ali, who is still going strong 18 years later, having taken up ARTEL as a full time pursuit while her friends moved onto other things.

“We have strived to give a new meaning to terracotta. Each product is laboriously hand crafted to the maximum perfection that can be attained. The colors are both vibrant and muted, the patterns elaborate to cater to all clientele. Our team comprises of under privileged boys and girls who are trained in-house. They are paid for the training period and then hired, giving them a decent means of livelihood and a skill. Our products range from jewelry to artifacts to furniture with hand painted tile inlay to customized glazed tiles. We wanted to bring pottery into the home, and not just in the form of flower pots, and give true meaning to terracotta.”

Bina Ali has always had family support for her work, both before and after marriage. Her father got her a studio on Zamzama Boulevard before her marriage. She met her husband Ali in NCA where he was studying architecture. He supports her effort and is there when she needs him. Her In-laws are very supportive as well, and she couldn’t have done it without them, she says. Bina Ali has two sons Abid (11) and Kamil (8). At the NCa she was also interested in puppetry with the Puppeteers NCA group, and participated in the International Puppet Festival in Lahore organized by the Rafi Peer Theatre. Creative writing is her other interest.

“At NCA they teach you everything but how to market yourself!” says Bina Ali, adding that what the NCA did teach was to get by on shoestring budgets. “It taught us how to survive within very limited means.” She has done better than survive, and is now poised to export her handiwork.     

For further information: artel.binaali@gmail.com

www.artel.binaali.com

http://www.facebook.com/artel.by.bina.ali