Artist: Arwa Nasrulla
Arwa Nasrulla, ILLINOIS
Statement
As a former interior designer, I was taught that form always follows function. I carry this ethos into the early stages of my pottery journey, where I’m building a foundation that recontextualizes familiar objects. My current approach centres on precision, shaping clean, functional forms while allowing subtle variations to emerge.
I’m making forms that are rooted in traditional Indian kulhads – porous, handle-less terracotta cups made from locally available clay, shaped quickly on the wheel, and fired in large batches. These vessels were used to serve steaming chai to the masses, especially travellers at train stations across India.
My cups and bowls swell outward and, towards the top, curve inward before flaring at the rim. This shift in direction creates a division; below a space intended to hold liquid; above a space for one to hold the vessel itself. While the kulhad informs the starting point, my design training leads me to redefine its proportions, so the form determines how the cup is held, tilted, and used.
I’m also exploring how texture defines this interaction, and how contrast between rim and body highlights the tactile experience. Woodfiring adds another visual and sensory layer, marking each vessel with unrepeatable flame patterns that alter the familiar, unglazed kulhad.
This series of pottery forms explore new ways of approaching the common Indian kulhad, modifying elements such as form, structure, and texture. Though the mugs with handles depart from the original kulhad-inspired form, they retain core qualities that have been reinterpreted with a more experimental spirit.
This series signals a shift in my approach to making; the discipline of wheel-throwing challenges my instinct for control, inviting me to shape, and be shaped by, the process.
Education
Current Third year MFA candidate, Graduate Institute of Applied Arts, Ceramics
Tainan National University of the Arts - TNNUA, Taiwan
2008 Degree BA (Hons) in Interior Design
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Singapore - University of Huddersfield, UK
2005 Diploma in Interior Design, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore
Work Experience
2019 - 2022 Studio ELAR - Co-Founder & Creative Director - www.studioelar.com
2018 - 2019 LAANK - Senior Designer & Project Manager
2016 - 2018 Independent Design Consultant
2011 - 2016 BBFL Design - Senior Designer
Exhibitions
2025 Drinking Age: Mill Creek Apprenticeship Turns 21 Clay Akar , Iowa, U.S.A
2025 New Art: TNNUA Annual Group Exhibition Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2025 Native Foreignness: Clay Between Worlds Mulan Gallery, Singapore
2024 Noto Reconstruction Support Exhibition Kyoto City, Japan
2023 DaChi 66 - TNNUA Annual Group Exhibition The Room, Taipei, Taiwan
Other Experiences
2025 Visiting Artist at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro 2 Months
● Created original works
● Delivered artist talk
2025 Apprenticeship at Mill Creek Pottery – Simon Levin 3 Months
● Developed functional forms.
● Studio Maintenance.
● Assisted in construction of a 42 cubic feet wood fired train kiln.
● Assisted in firing of a 6 day anagama firing.
● Partner in design and construction of a 14 cubic feet wood fired soda kiln.