Fellow potters always knew Abdul Rahim could do magic with clay. Few thought he could do business as well.
But Rahim, to his own surprise, has been doing just that - running a cooperative of potters. When his factory here shut soon after demonetisation, he spearheaded a movement that is now the talk of the town.
Earlier this year, Rahim collaborated with 13 other artisans, who had similarly lost their jobs, and started the cooperative in Khurja, the small town in Bulandshahr district known for its pottery and ceramics industry.
The 14-strong cooperative now makes a profit and is being hailed as a local start-up.
The potters pooled in their savings, collecting Rs 7.65 lakh, with which they bought clay and tools such as a pottery wheel, rolling pin, brushes, sponges and measuring devices.
For the the last two months, they have been earning a profit of about Rs 80,000 a month.
"We share the profits. There is no owner and no worker. I am living my childhood dream," Surendra Singh, the oldest member of the cooperative at 82, told PTI.
Rahim, 57, came to the small town of Khurja from Mughulsarai at the age of 16 to become a pottery artist.
The colours -- shades of blue, simple hues of white and off-white, glazed grey, bright yellow, deep chocolate, sober green, muddy brown - that adorned household vessels always attracted him as a child, he said.
He began working in a small pottery factory and soon his creations were drawing buyers from all over the region.
But then one day the factory he had been working for all his life closed its doors on him. The money crunch post demonetisation had led to a drastic drop in walk-in customers and even regular clients. The factory owners had no money to pay the workers, and closure followed, he said.
After trying out odd jobs at shops and dhabas, Rahim decided to do what he knew best. He started making his own products and selling them independently.
That was when he thought of working with other artisans to share expenses - and the cooperative was formed.
To begin with, they produced semi-fabricated cups and saucers that were bought by a local factory which then baked them in fired kilns and sold them in Khurja's weekly market.
"But they were semi-fabricated forms, our knowledge of art was not getting utilised. Moreover, we were paid a pittance. We realised we could earn more if we sold the finished products," Rahim added.
Potter Sagar Sunil came up with the idea of building their own small wooden fire kiln that would let them sell finished products and also give them credit for their work.
"It required more investment but we all agreed that it was worth taking the risk," Sunil said.
The cooperative now works from a rented godown - with the showroom on the ground floor and workshop on the first floor.
It manufactures and sells ceramics for ornamentation, utility items in the kitchen and tableware. It creates vases, crockery, candle-stands and jars. The cooperative is also venturing into bone china crockery, stoneware, earthenware, toys and figurines.
Singh admits that he was apprehensive about investing his life's saving into a cooperative, but is now happy.
"Our profit in the last two months touched Rs 80,000 which is good for now. We are still making half the money we used to make but it feels like a new beginning," he said.
Buyer Purohit Sinha, who owns a ceramic artwork shop in Agra, has become a regular customer of the cooperative.
"The prices are much lower than the market rate and the unique tribal and floral designs give them an edge over the other local shops," Sinha said.
Singh said young local artisans now want to follow the 14 potters, and often ask them what keeps them going.
"I tell them it was love for this unique art that made every obstacle easy," Singh said.
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