• Dolon is a self-taught maker and teacher of her craft
• She specialises in pinch pottery, shaping every work by hand
• In 2024, she received one of India’s highest craft honours

Dolon Kundu is a Kolkata-based terracotta artist, originally from West Bengal in eastern India, and the founder of Maarttikee, an atelier devoted to teaching pinch pottery. Dolon makes sculptural panels, figurative works and large, votive sculptures drawn from mythology, faith and nature. In parallel to her own artistic practice, she leads and trains a rural women’s craft cluster, where artisans make decorative and functional terracotta objects for Indian and international markets. In 2024, Dolon received the Shilp Guru National Award, one of India’s highest honours for craftsmanship. “The award changed my life, and seeing women earn from working with clay changed my perspective on what my work is about,” she says. “My dream is to build a larger workshop, train more women and create more craft clusters.”