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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Saeed Kamali Dehghan

Ceramics, miniatures and mosaics: the London school reviving the world’s endangered sacred arts

A tomb in the Sindh village of Kharro Syed, tiled in the kashikari tradition.
A tomb in the Sindh village of Kharro Syed. Daudpota and his team restored and made new tiles to decorate it in a revival of the traditional Sindhi kashikari style. Photograph: Amjad Daudpota

The small city of Nasarpur in Pakistan has a centuries-old reputation for its ceramics. That’s why, when the ceramic worker Ghulam Hyder Daudpota decided to come all the way to London to master his craft, he says “it seemed futile”. But, he adds: “It turned into a life-changing opportunity.”

Daudpota grew up with eight siblings in a city where the mosques and shrines are embellished with terracotta and blue glazed tiles, known as the art of kashikari. He spoke little English until the age of 27 and his parents had “no deep pockets” to pay his tuition fees.

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