Ladi Kwali Pottery Center, Suleja
Ladi Kwali Pottery Center is a world-class pottery learning and training center located in Suleja, Niger State. The Center began in 1951 as the Abuja Pottery Center, and the Nigerian government employed Michael Cardew, a British studio potter, as the center’s pottery officer.
The establishment of the training center was the beginning of deliberate efforts to integrate the growing Nigerian pottery industry into the global earthenware production with the infusion of both the European pottery making styles and Nigerian techniques. The infusion made products from the center hybrid products which were well received in the world pottery market.
The arrival of Ladi Kwali from Kwali in present day Kwali Area Council of FCT, Abuja, in 1954 as the first woman potter at the training center revolutionized the art of pottery making at the center. In 1984, the Abuja Pottery Training Center was named after her as Dr. Ladi Kwali Pottery Center.
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Though not formally educated, Kwali, through her exceptional skills, gained local and international recognition and this had immense influence in the pottery industry. She was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by the British government in 1962 and got an honorary doctorate from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in 1970.
Ladi Kwali Pottery Center did not only attract European and American pottery students and tourists alike to Suleja, it also brought fame to African pottery as visitors trooped in from the world over in large numbers to learn the art of pottery in which Western techniques had been infused with local pottery techniques.
Local trainees at the center were able to learn to use the potter’s wheel to mass produce their pottery. They were also taught glazing and kiln firing.
The center usually gets its clay from Dangara Kwali in the FCT and Abuchi in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, which potters mould into beautiful household materials.
The center churns out about 100 ceramic products, including pots, flower vases, among others, on a daily basis. These items are all produced manually and sold by the state government in trade fairs both within and outside the country.