History

Design Resource

Zama Pottery of Spiti Valley

The Craft of Clay Pottery

History

The age-old tradition of pottery is a result of the geography of Spitian terrain, its resources, harsh climate and hard life of people of the valley. Initially, pottery was the functional need of its people and was made to use as utensils, vessels and other household items. Zama pots were used in almost everything like cooking, storing and even storing local barley beer. The yellow and black clay was easily available and had tremendous amount of plasticity and strength. Slowly it started evolving into various decorative items like pots, lamps and stand. Also In the early days, the cold weather did not allow any other crop than potatoes to grow in this region. So the zama pots made by the potters were used to exchange it from various other crops; mainly black peas. Today the climate has changed and the villages have started producing various other crops. The easy availability of plastic and steel utensils has made Zama pottery a dying craft.

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Zama Pottery of Spiti Valley