Gaya Ceramics (www.gayaceramic.com) can’t really be summed up as a ceramic ware company. Their booklet explains that it is part of a larger organization called the Gaya Fusion Group. Located west of Ubud, it could be described as a small campus. I thought the interior of their factory space was quite interesting with it’s tented roof.
Here are two workers in the factory. The words of the day are patience, and steady hands. The person working on the sea urchin vessel is poking tiny holes into the small bumps on the surface. A live sea urchin would have had spines, and these are lost once the urchin dies. This replication of the detail made for a very realistic urchin skeleton (I think called the test?) The person on the right has the small cup lightly affixed to a turn table and it is rotating at a steady speed. The worker loads their brush with glaze, then carefully positions their hand to touch the edge of the cup at one point. As the cup turns, the entire rim is coated delicately and evenly—one hopes!
Across the road was a workshop where people could take classes, see demonstrations, have access to studio time, and even take a 3, 5, or 7-day retreat that blended yoga, meditation, journaling, and chanting with the goal of creating a deeper interaction with clay. (For anyone interested, please see http://www.fivelements.org) The third image below that shows the ceiling & loft area of the workshop was intended to show you the elaborate detail that is surrounding the loft ceiling area. However, it was carved detail, not painted, so it doesn’t really show up here.
A short drive down the road brought us to this temple looking structure. The top part is an open air restaurant. On the right is a small coffee shop that sells baked items like biscotti, and they also had some amazing gelato. Everything I’ve had here in Bali has been so incredibly fresh and the gelato was the best I’ve tasted. My choice? The pistachio gelato… and it was not green.
This pendant light fixture hung throughout the restaurant. I had seen something similar at the factory, coils stacked and holes punched in the sides. Marilyn and I both had been trying to figure out what that could possibly be once assembled. And here it was! The coffee shop also carried some of their ceramic ware like these bowls and the cupcake foils (which are actually ceramic).
I don’t want to definitively say Gaya makes these table & chairs, but there were 4 or 5 sets in front of their coffee shop and I loved them! The seats are a simplified version of the chinese garden stool, complete with carrying handles. Smart.
These last two items are for fun. The chicken chair was one of the dining chairs in the restaurant, and these op-art chairs were in a seating area.
Thanks for hangin’ in there! Still more to come…
JodyT2 