Shaping sound from clay: The innovative journey of Sivaprakash | Fusion - WeRIndia

Innovation often begins in the quiet corners of tradition, and for Nilambur’s Sivaprakash K, it started in the soft rhythm of his father’s spinning pottery wheel.

Although he briefly drifted toward a computer hardware job, the pull of clay, craft, and heritage eventually drew him back to the family’s artistic roots.

Interestingly, his turning point came not from nostalgia alone but from a spark of design thinking.

His elder brother, Sivadasan, a product designer at Sargaalaya Arts and Crafts Village, showed him how traditional skills could transform into modern expressions.

Until then, pottery had been something Sivaprakash lent a hand with during school and college, never imagining it as a full-fledged career.

Yet innovation thrives at intersections, and his path soon revealed one.

Sivaprakash first captured attention online with miniature pottery art. These tiny, precise forms demanded patience, control, and imagination, traits that quickly set him apart on social media.

Every tiny pot became both a tribute to craft and a showcase of possibility.

But his most striking innovation arrived when he fused age-old terracotta with modern audio culture.

Inspired by bamboo speakers, he crafted a terracotta acoustic amplifier, locally known as kaliman kolambi.

Entirely electricity-free, the amplifier channels smartphone audio through a handcrafted clay body, creating a naturally amplified, warm, bass-rich sound.

In a world ruled by digital devices, he engineered an organic speaker that uses nothing but form, space, and physics.

He now experiments with size variations, textures, and patterns, turning each amplifier into a functional sculpture.

Beyond creating, he also documents his process, opening doors for aspiring potters who wish to blend tradition with innovation.

Today, Sivaprakash works at the Kerala Arts and Crafts Village (KACV) in Kovalam, where his creations travel both online and offline.

In his hands, clay is no longer just a craft; it is a medium of reinvention, quietly proving that innovation doesn’t always need circuits or code. Sometimes, it rises from the earth itself.

Image from Pxhere (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Published on December 24, 2016

Image Reference: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/3078