(From top) Adil Writer says that the simplicity of terracotta adds a unique touch to home interiors; Kumud Mohinder’s series of faces and torsos comes with a rough touch for visual effect

Are you tired of wood, glass and steel and all the modern pieces that are cluttering up your home? How would you like to return to the good earthy feel of terracotta?

Perhaps you still suffer from the impression that terracotta — that naturally brownish-orange earth/clay — is best used as surface embellishments on buildings in the form of bricks and roof shingles? Think again, as the earthy look of terracotta is moving indoors — and it’s looking good.

“Its simplicity is adding an artistic touch to home interiors and that’s also allowing people to give the wood/glass/steel look a miss,’’ says Adil Writer, Pondicherry-based architect-turned-potter.

Today, this humble baked earth is being moulded into fancy forms in the hands of a growing breed of experimental potters. Whether as wall-hangings, tableware, pieces of art/sculpture or even as objects of utilitarian value, terracotta is fast making a fashionable statement in modern homes.

(From top) Suparna Surana’s range includes platters in different sizes and colourful wall hangings; Swiss potter Rebecca Madder’s works flaunt a beehive look

“Terracotta has been redefined. It’s considered much more artistic today than it was before,” says Anuradha Ravindranath, trustee, Delhi Blue Pottery Trust. The Trust recently organised a terracotta exhibition that gave visitors an insight into how this baked clay could be used in interiors. Ravindranath says: “It’s a medium that’s here to stay. And whether it is artistic or utilitarian, terracotta is user-friendly.’’

As the popularity of terracotta surges, you might wonder what’s giving it an edge. “Terracotta products and artefacts are very affordable compared to art,” says Suparna Surana, a studio potter.

Price-wise, terracotta products can come at almost throwaway prices. An object of everyday use like a candle-stand created by a local potter could cost a rock-bottom Rs 50. However, an artwork by a master artist could scale Rs 1 lakh.

Leena Batra, a self-taught potter, says that terracotta’s earthly colour also goes in its favour and holds huge appeal. “It’s such an attractive and earthy hue that artists working with the medium don’t enjoy glazing it,” says Batra.

While the terracotta spectrum covers a massive canvas — from objects of utility to pure art forms — Batra specialises in sculptural pieces for homes. “It’s a difficult medium to work with and behaves very differently from stone. What’s more, it could crack when heated,” says Batra. One of her abstract pieces, Life is Fragile, is her favourite work and has a terracotta hand holding a small sphere.

Supriya Kanwar custom makes terracotta pots and platters; (above) Leena Batra believes terracotta will always be in vogue

Surana too loves to create sculptures in terracotta. She also creates stylish wall brackets glazed in different colours, platters in different sizes and shapes as well as murals.

A lot of other potters are turning to sculpting terracotta. Rebecca Madder is another sculpture specialist from Switzerland, who is a frequent visitor to India. To give a slightly smoky look to her creations, Madder uses the pit-firing method — keeping the designed clay in a heated pit that’s covered with sawdust or dried manure.

Sculptor Kumud Mohinder has made terracotta faces and torsos of women her speciality. Her range of sculptures cost between Rs 5,000 and Rs 40,000. “It all depends on the size and concept behind the work,” she says.

Those looking out for functional pieces can head for potter Supriya Kanwar’s studio, where she customises products for her clients. She’s usually deluged by orders for specifically shaped flower-pots, candle-holders glazed in blue, wall tiles, fruit bowls and more. “I glaze most of my products so that they last longer,” she says. What’s more, her glazed bowls are microwave safe. Kanwar has priced her products upwards of Rs 1,000.

Writer created funky terracotta objects for a recent exhibition — and most were inspired by current hot topics. His terracotta lines include what he calls the Slumdog Platter, a platter with American President Obama’s face on it. “I was trying to portray the overselling of a current topic in the media,” explains Writer.

“The platters can be hung on walls or placed on centre-tables,” he says. Another series called Phantom is all about sizeable brick ‘tablets’ that have messages inscribed on them. He designed some of these tablets to portray the Mumbai carnage that he felt was “overplayed by the media.”

So, if you are planning to refurbish your home, touch it up with terracotta — that good earth which is the flavour of the moment.