Charan Sachar (05-25-2020): Creative with clay & so much more

Monday (05/25/2020) my guest was Charan Sachar from Creative with Clay. If you’ve been to a STITCHES West in the past couple of years, you might have met him & seen his wonderful work first hand.

Charan Sachar lived in India for a significant part of his life where his mother ran a boutique, designing clothes for brides and bridesmaids. The designs, colors, fabrics, and embroidery he came across then have a strong impact on his work now.

In 2014, Charan took up knitting as a hobby and very soon the knit patterns started making an appearance into his work. Very soon, he purchased a floor loom and a spinning wheel. Now he obsesses over dyeing fiber and is fascinated about color mixing and different spinning techniques which change the appearance of the final yarn. The transformation of fiber to yarn and yarn to fabric inspires him further regarding the textures and colors in his pottery.

He uses a combination of techniques such as wheel throwing, extrusions, slab constructions and alterations to create his forms. Each piece is then further decorated with textures he creates to give it the feel of embroidered and knitted fabric. These are further enhanced with underglazes, slip and glazes that he formulates to add beauty and functionality to the pieces.

In 2011, Charan quit his full-time job of 12 years as a software engineer to pursue his passion in clay. Pottery has given him the much-needed respite from the monotony of everyday life.

His story and work have been featured in the New York Times, HGTV, several knitting magazines such as Vogue, Noro, and Tiny Fiber studio. His goal is to continue to work with this medium to create artwork which can be cherished for life.

Charan is amazingly creative and a delight to talk with. Please tune in!