Pottery industry on the point of breaking up

The ancient pottery industry, like many of the country’s traditional arts and crafts, has hit a slump. Pottery-ware manufacturers and traders are facing a highly competitive market filled with imported items, and the authorities are doing little to help promote pottery production and sales.

The treasured clay pot is fast becoming a thing of the past.

Despite all the talk about sustaining age-old cottage industries, these industries are struggling to stay alive. Over the years pottery has given way to modern materials like aluminium and plastic, as consumers turn to more hardy vessels for cooking and storage purposes.

Traditionalists bemoan the fact that the treasured clay pot is fast becoming a thing of the past. In the tiny backwater village of Kumara Ella, in Bakamuna, in the Matale district, a tiny group of villagers is valiantly struggling to keep the pottery tradition alive, although they find the going very tough. In fact, some of the villagers are already talking of closing down, simply because they cannot get their products to the local fair or market.

H. G. Sethuhamy and wife A. C. Ranhethena are working the last mound of clay in the backyard of their run-down home.

“Life has become a misery,” Sethuhamy says. “The profits from this trade are not worth the effort. We are the last of some 10 families that used to turn out pottery-ware. Most of them have given up and turned to other occupations.”

Transporting the finished product to the market or village fair is the main problem for the pottery makers of Bakamuna.

Transport is the main problem for pottery makers of Bakamuna. “The clay is free and the wood to fire the ovens comes from the jungle. Getting the goods to the pola is the problem. We cannot afford the high transport costs,” Sethuhamy says.

“Sometimes a government official will visit, take notes and promise to help us. But that’s about all.

The next time they show up is when they’re canvassing for votes for the next election, not to tell us that the government has a solution for our problems.“

This has been going on for years. We are tired of waiting and being repeatedly disappointed. I’m sorry, but we have no more confidence in the authorities.”