Maqatubani

The Qvevri-Maker’s Tale: “To make a qvevri, you start at the pointed bottom,” says Zaliko Bozhadze, one of Georgia’s most famous and acclaimed master potters. “That’s the only part that’s done on a potter’s wheel. Then you work up from there, a little clay at a time, adding about 15 to 20 centimetres per day in the summer when it’s hot, but only 20 centimetres every three days when the weather is cool or rainy.” A qvevri is, in effect, a giant coil pot and the potter learns by experience how much he can add in a day and still maintain the strength and tension needed to hold the shape and weight of the clay that is to come. After all, the qvevri walls are only about 4 centimetres (1½ inches) thick, and no armature or other material helps the clay maintain its smooth egg shape. “It takes about three months to build a large qvevri, so we work on several simultaneously, to bring them all up together.”