Serving Dish - Blackstone

Create a lasting impression on your guests the time they enter your home with this classic Serving Dish Blackstone. As such your delicious food will have them flattered, this uniquely handcrafted Blackstone pottery serving dish will leave them enchanted of your choice. It is one of the beautiful serveware trays that will never let you down and you can go on to serve freshly prepared hot food, fruits, dry-fruits and nuts or simply any eatable in this serving dish and gain appreciation.
It is simple yet a classic piece and you will not find it anywhere but goroots. Handcrafted using traditional Longpi Ham skills, this serving dish has been prepared from premium black soil that is lead-free and eco-friendly in nature.
Buy one for you or gift it to your near and dear ones on special occasions!

About Blackstone Pottery

Blackstone or Longpi Ham pottery dates back to those ancient times when the utensils and cookware were used by prominent royal families in India, during religious ceremonies and festivities. Hence, also referred to as royal pottery, the art of Blackstone pottery is regal in its own sense.

Blackstone Pottery is consists of a mixture of crushed Serpentine rock and weather rock used in the ratio 3:1. The artefacts derived from Blackstone are not only used as cookware and serveware but also as decorative pieces of art.

The art is a symbol of devotion of the Thankul Naga tribes of the Ukhrul district of Manipur who accomplish and respect this form of pottery as a devotion to Goddess Panthobi and Nongpok Ningthou, equivalents of Goddess Durga and Lord Shiva respectively.  

Procedure

Around 200 men and women artisans the Thankul Naga tribes, who are the inhabitants of the Longpi village of the Ukhrul district of Manipur, ply the craft of Blackstone earthenware with their rich untamed skills.

The remarkable feature of Blackstone pottery is that artisans do not resort to the potters wheel, instead, they use out of the ordinary the coiling method in order to achieve the desired shape and size of the artefact they have in their mind.

To begin with, the artists crush the Serpentine rock and weathered rocks in the ratio 3:1, along with a certain proportion of clay, water and soil.
The crushed rocks are mixed adequately to form a mixture which is later shaped by the use of hands. The final shape of the artefact wholly depends on the skills and techniques the craftsmen put to use.  

The faded brownish-black colour and the smoke stains are a result of intensely heating up the artefact to as high as 900 degrees centigrade.

Finally, the traditional Handi pots are baked on straw and cow-dung and polished with beeswax and a special leaf called Chirona.

Region

The art of Blackstone pottery exclusively belongs to the Ukhrul district in the north-eastern state of Manipur. The Thankul Naga tribes are the inhabitants of the Longpi village, which is situated in Ukhrul. The district is about 85kms eastward to Imphal, the capital of Manipur.

goroots provides a concrete backing to the Black Pottery craftsmen situated in the remote interiors of Manipur. We encourage the ability of the tribal handicraft artisans and genuinely support their efforts through our website.