Mountain-Inspired Ceramic Decor & Houses on Cliff Vases
I pour my love for the mountains and quiet moments into these ceramic pieces. Bring a little bit of the pahad into your home with my handmade sculptural vases.
A piece from my 'Houses on Cliff' series, styled with fresh yellow flowers. Each house is hand-built and attached to a wheel-thrown base, creating a miniature landscape inspired by my mountain travels.
Poetry and pottery often go hand in hand for me. This video pairs one of my cliff house sculptures with a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, capturing the feeling of solitude and peace I associate with the mountains.
From a simple sketch to a finished, glazed piece. This video shows the evolution of a mountain vase, from the initial form to the final hand-painted details that bring the landscape to life.
A small village of ceramic houses. This collection shows the variety within the series, from smaller, rustic huts to larger homes with hand-painted floral details. They look beautiful grouped together on a shelf.
A close-up of a textured vase from the 'Houses on Cliff' series. I use different tools to create textures that mimic tree bark or weathered stone, adding another layer of detail to these handmade sculptures.
It's all in the details. A tiny heart made of wire emerges from the chimney of this ceramic house, a small symbol of the love and warmth I hope these pieces bring into your home.
This video shows the slab-building process for creating one of my house sculptures. I cut, score, and slip the clay pieces together, then add details like the roof and windows before applying colored underglaze.
My inspiration comes from real places. This video is from a trip to Langza village in Spiti, a place famous for its traditional Zama pottery. Touching the local clay and seeing ancient pots was an unforgettable experience that continues to influence my work.
About Mountain-Inspired Decor
These sculptural vases are designed primarily as standalone art pieces or for dried flowers, rather than heavy water usage. Because they are stoneware and hand-built, they are delicate; I recommend keeping them on a stable surface where you can enjoy the little details—the windows, the textures, and the quiet memories—up close.
The 'Houses on Cliff' series is my way of keeping the mountains with me. When I am not in the studio, I am often dreaming of Spiti or Tirthan, and these ceramic landscapes are the result of those thoughts. I don't use molds for any of these pieces. Every house is built by hand, every roof texture is carved individually, and every window is cut when the clay is just right.
Because I use stoneware, the finish is durable, but it remains a slow-made item. You might find that one house sits a little differently than another, or the glaze has a unique shift—toh yeh toh hona hi tha! These aren't defects; they are the little signs of human hands that make your piece truly yours.
I find that these vases look best on a bookshelf or a bedside table, perhaps with a single dried sprig or just standing alone as a reminder of a place you love. If you are looking to bring a bit of 'pahad' into your space, these are for you. I handle every step from the initial wheel-throwing to the final kiln opening, so what you receive is a piece of my heart, quite literally a jigar ka tukda.
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