Yes, you heard it right. This story is about the woman who adds quirkiness to handmade ceramic items with lines inspired by Shahrukh Khan’s movies. Want a beer mug that says “Kabhi Beer, Kabhi Rum”, CrackPot has it!
Leaving a well settled job, and finding a new love, is what Anubha Bellani decided to do after a few years in content and strategy development role. She had always had a creative aptitude, thanks to her mother. She has been into cross-stitching, painting, doodling, bead work and so on. Her love for clay was given a shape by Rajesh Srivastava and Preeti Thakur Pandey of the Delhi Blue Pottery, where Anubha learned the art. They ensured that she didn’t give up and took up her hobby of pottery as a passion and continued with it. This was in Jan 2017, that is when she started her own brand – Crackpot.
We wonder, why this name! An artist puts in a lot of effort to ensure perfect and unbroken piece of art and despite ensuring that all the pieces emerge perfectly out of a kiln, there are still few pieces which crack inside the kiln and this breaks a potter’s heart and ends up being a decorative piece in an artist’s home . These broken pieces of beauties inspired her with this name for her venture.
“The wound or the crack is the place where the light enters” – Rumi
Coming back to Anubha’s beautiful works of art, she loves to make decorative plates and tableware in ceramic. One can see her love for writing, spirituality and her love for Shahrukh Khan movies in the quirky scribbles done on her wares. This is the differentiator as these words make her art unique.
Anubha, upon the insistence of with her then 6 year-old son, started the tradition of bringing Ganesha home for chaturthi every year. Couple of years down the line, when she wanted an eco-friendly Ganpati, a potter lied to her about the idol being eco-friendly one and that is when she started making her own Ganpati with the Shadu clay specially ordered from Pune. That was the beginning of another milestone in her current journey. She began conducting the workshops to make eco-friendly Ganesha workshops which are a big hit today among the kids and adults alike. How does she make these workshops interesting and interactive for the kids? She combines the art of story telling while making the idols, which is a fun way to teach kids.
A one man army, a super-woman, a super-power, that is how one comes across Anubha as, who makes each and every piece of art with her own hands.
When one treats the business as her passion there is no doubt that each unique piece will have a story to it. When people buy handmade, which is picking up as a trend in today’s times, they are all praise for her and this generates an interest in them to themselves learn the art. This gives the artists a sense of high as her art is highly appreciated. There is no price to art compared to synthetic or commercially made artistic pieces.
So how does this super-woman market her art and brand? Well it is though word of mouth, exhibitions and the social media, which keeps her actively involved with her prospective clients and art enthusiasts.
Spread the joy with what I love to do!
Anubha likes to have her days crazily filled with fun and that is what she intends to keep doing in future too. As a parting advice for budding entrepreneurs, she says ‘say yes to the universe and keep doing what you love, you will find your path’.
You can find Anubha’s handmade ceramic art products here.
The Handmade Co. 