Pottery is an art and craft that has been there since time immemorial and perhaps as old as mankind.
However, for one 37-year old potter James Mulwa from Kisii Estate in Thika, it is not the time it has been there but what he is able to do with it to earn a living.
"I learnt pottery from my grandmother since I was a small child. My grandfather and my father used to discourage me against it telling me that pottery was a women thing. My grandmother, on the other hand, was supportive and wanted me to learn the art," said Mulwa on Wednesday when we met him at where he sells his clay ware at Makongeni Shopping Centre.
Mulwa says that though claywares might look old-fashioned in this era when more efficient and modern kitchenware have come to be, many people still prefer items made from clay.
"Despite all the modernity, we still remain Africans. It is hard to go to any African household and lack a clayware. And even for those who don't use clay wares in the kitchen, they still buy them for other purposes like say a pot for planting flowers. That is why I'm still in business anyway," he said.
Mulwa says that he makes the claywares at his Machakos rural home where he says there is enough quality clay for the job and good weather for drying them.
His ability to design various claywares for different purposes and to satisfy different clients, he says, has enabled him survive in the business for the last 11 years.
Mulwa's advice to upcoming businessmen is to remain consistent in their activities and seek to be innovative to satisfy customers' needs.
"Don't be a one-sided sword. Be innovative and change with times and you will survive in any business that you doing without necessarily changing to another," Mulwa said.