Triangular Coffee Kettle - Blackstone

Details

Enhance the beauty of your coffee table with this unique work of art, offered by goroots. The exclusive Triangular Coffee Kettle is a beautiful Blackstone pottery product, handcrafted by the exceptionally talented tribes of Manipur. Moving on from the typical shape of any regular looking kettle, this one has a stylish triangular form to offer. While the spout of the kettle is elegantly given a triangular shape from start to finish, its handle features thoroughly coiled fine cane strings that are instantly recognizable. A delight for coffee lovers, the Blackstone Coffee Kettle offers an innovative way to enjoy the brewed beverage.

About Blackstone Pottery

The Triangular Coffee Kettle is a sheer example of the rustic art of Blackstone pottery, which 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 lustrous gray-black colour and the smoke stains are a result of intensely heating up the artefact to as high as 900 degrees centigrade.

After the traditional coffee kettle pots are baked on straw and cow-dung and polished with beeswax and a special leaf called Chirona, final touches are given in the form of coiling fine cane strings onto the handle of the artefact.

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.