Ancestral Pottery Workshop by Encalada & Sons

The Ivan Encalada Pottery Workshop is the heritage of a pottery tradition that is located in the district of La Convención del 45, a typical place in Cuenca (Ecuador) for its craftsmen dedicated to pottery.

The tradition was started in 1962 by his father José Encalada, when he opened the business that has always been located in Mariscal Lamar Street, in the family's house. José started his pottery apprenticeship in 1948. His teachers were Juan Arias and Miguel Pacheco. He needed to learn a trade to make a living.

His son Ivan has become, over the years, his best student and assistant. The Encalada family home is also a centre for displaying the products and works of Ivan and Jose, utilitarian objects such as jugs, glasses, plates and pots or pieces of undeniable artistic value. It is also a museum-workshop to observe first-hand the work of the master potters on a standing lathe or to learn the elaboration of ceramics by means of the ancestral "black" technique, of millenary Cañari (a pre-Inca culture) roots.

For José Encalada, the support of all his family has been important for the maintenance of the workshop. His wife Yolanda Arias and his daughters and sons have taken part in this project.

Father and son are constantly concerned about the fate of the trade. That is why they have thought it convenient to teach the public the process of producing a ceramic object. On the other hand, they have had the initiative and have participated in organizational processes and in the aggregation of the potters of the neighborhood, with the foundation of the Guild of Potters and Ceramists, with the objective that this activity is not lost.

Another space that gives identity to the sector is the Casa del Alfarero, managed by the Municipality of Cuenca as a Cultural Center and a place for community meetings and the people of the neighborhood.

The neighborhood of The Convention of '45 was created during the course of the 19th century, as an artisan's neighborhood. It was one of the multiple dismemberments of San Sebastian, one of the 3 great parishes that Cuenca had after its foundation, besides El Sagrario and San Blas.