I was lucky enough to go to visit Jaipur with a friend about three weeks ago. I wanted to visit the house of local craftsman, Kripal Singh Shekhawat. His home's a little hard to find and it took us a bit of driving around to make it but it was well worth it.
We pulled up to a nice bungalow styled house with a garden and a driveway lined with pottery in progress. Kripal died earlier this year; his daugther is carrying on the tradition of making blue pottery in Jaipur. She opened the shop specially for us and showed us around the place.
Kripal was famous for his skills in blue pottery and is credited for the revival of the art in India. He studied original painting at the Shanti Niketan in West Bengal and later did a diploma in Oriental Arts from the Tokyo University, Japan. He directed Sawai Ram Singh Kala Mandir at Jaipur where he taught Indian painting and Blue Pottery.
He also revived the blue pottery which had been dead. He made many changes with designs. It is still run by his wife Shrimati Sajjan Kanwar assissted by his three daughters, mainly Minakshi Rathore.
