100 Pots
The aim of this experimental research project is to interrogate the processes involved in making Julfar Ware and to expand the current knowledge base regarding the making of UAE pottery.
The project, begun in the UAE and continuing in the UK, represents the first practical research to understand the processes involved in the making and firing of a kiln load of Julfar Ware pottery. Using a combination of methodologies including archaeology, ethnography, historical and practical research, combined with data analysis from existing kiln research and ceramic chronologies, the 100 pots produced will represent a ‘snap shot’ of vessel types made at Wadi Haqil. The pots recreate the traditional shapes and biochrome designs of the Julfar Ware potters and as far as possible employ the same methods and tools used.
In order to begin this research I needed to find a reliable source of UAE clay and located clay which was a waste product from a limestone quarry in Ras Al Khaimah. This project is ongoing and I am currenlty seeking funding to complete the project and to build a replica Julfar Ware kiln in the UAE, Updraft Two, to fire the pots.