Meet Our Member: Drashti Desai @drashtidesigns

Drashit Desai

1. When did you fall in love with pottery?

I started while I was in grad school in Savannah, Georgia right before COVID, and I loved the medium immediately. But the world shut down before I could go any further with it. A couple years later, when I moved to Ohio for work, serendipitously, there was a pottery studio, Sunshine Studios, right next to my office. I signed up for a wheel class again, and that's where it truly happened. I met the most incredible teacher in Larry and made the most incredible friends, and I fell completely in love.

2. What have been the benefits of working with clay?

I love that with clay, I can make an idea come to life as fast as I can think it. Clay remembers and it holds feeling. It is malleable and adaptable in a way that lets me express myself differently than any other medium I've worked with. And there is something about the way it feels in my hands, the sheer tangibility of it, that has been satisfying and exciting at the same time.

3. Do you have a favourite piece you've made so far? What's the story behind it?

Laila, my red ruffled sculptural handbag. I loved ideating her, loved creating her. She is an ode to everyone who has carried me, a piece not just for beauty but that holds memory and warmth and love. What I love most is her journey: she started as a lamp, became a handbag, and then broke in transit. Through kintsugi, she was given a new life, and despite that break, or maybe because of it, she has since been featured in three exhibits

LAILA

4. Favourite tool?

The wood modeling tool. The humble workhorse. It is versatile, and it's been getting a lot of use lately as I've been on a handbuilding streak.

5. Favourite clay?

My new toy is speckled clay. I've never worked with it before, and I'm excited to see how it brings textural personality to everything I make.

6. Favourite time of day to come to the studio?

Post-lunch, in the afternoon.

7. Best local food spot?

Dhesi Swaad on Chatham St. For anyone craving really good, sit-down, Indian food, this is the closest to authentic you'll find. Everything on the menu is great, so you can't go wrong.

8. What do you like to listen to when you work?

Weirdly enough, nothing. My husband calls me an iPad person because I have something going in the background every moment of the day: cleaning, cooking, driving. But clay is the one time I appreciate a silent mind. It's the one place I'm completely at peace. It's meditation for me.

9. What's your next pottery goal, or the skill you're most keen to learn?

My goal is to be able to make repeatable objects, whether on the wheel or through handbuilding. That consistency is the next skill I want to build.

10. Best part of being a member of Ford City Potters Studio?

The people. There's such a range of backgrounds and professions and walks of life in that room, and I love watching how people's experiences turn into ideas in clay. Everyone is kind and helpful, and it's been wonderful to be part of a community of creatives.