KALCHATTI
ARTISANS 

Material: Soapstone

Location: Tamil Nadu, India

Words by Deepa Ramakrishnan

Deep in the south of India, tucked away in a village surrounded by metamorphic steatite (also known as soapstone) mountains live a community of generational artisans who have been using these stones to hand chisel cooking pots for centuries. It is said that humans have worked with soap stones since the Stone Age. 

 

When I travelled to meet the soap stone artisans in their village, I had no idea what was about to unfold. I feel like I went in quite naively and maybe, no part of me could've prepared for how deeply I was to be moved and stirred by their wisdom and ways of living that day. 

 

We drove 2 hours from Salem to meet Kandhasamy at his village. He took us on a walk to the mountains, it was about 9 am by then and was already 35C. Kandhasamy mentioned that the village men usually started their day at 5 am and wrapped it up by 1 pm. So, by the time we met them, they were well into their work day. 

We prayed and asked for permission and protection at the temple on the foothills before we climbed up. This temple holds generations of history for his family: he and his wife, his parents, his grandparents , great grandparents were all married here. As we walked up, we saw these enormous, what felt like never ending mountain ranges with evidence of decades of hand excavation. Several men were sitting deep in these excavated pits and caves in-between these mountains, chiselling away. 

 

These mountains are their Deities and Gods. They know these rocks like the back of their palms. 

 

They were so intentional about how much they extracted. It felt like they were listening to these rocks and seeing more than what I could see. They seemed to know with precision, the internal folds and layers of these rocks to know exactly where to quarry enough to make a pot. Wasting any of the stones taken from the mountain was disrespectful. Kandhasamy mentioned that this was a skill every boy was initiated into as soon as they turned 5. Nothing goes to waste. The offcuts from the chiselling are handed to the women artisans of the community, who transform them into delicate, handcrafted miniatures. It takes steady hands, endless patience and an eye for seeing what these tiny rocks could become to shape these tiny offcuts, and the women artisans hold this role. 

The artisans believe that the mountain keeps yielding and unearthing more to sustain them because they hold it with such reverence. Through the years, these artisans have had multiple brands ready to offer them big contracts, they've denied it all. The mountain is not a resource to them but a Deity. Their devotion lies in taking only what is needed and honoring that bond with reverence, never exploitation.

 

As I walked deeper into these metamorphic mountains, the heat was quite unbearable for me but that didn't bother any of them. There sat an elder in his nineties, chiselling a stone pot with steady hands, an unbent spine, and sharp eyes. How had he climbed up here? What kept him so alive?

 

Curious, I asked Kandhasamy about the health of the villagers. Most of them, he told me, either didn’t know where the nearest hospital was or had been only once or twice in their lives.

 

They attribute it all to cooking and eating in these rock vessels. They believe that these vessels carry the minerals our body needs, especially calcium, magnesium and iron. The kalchattis (rock vessels) are also alkaline in nature and reduce the acidic nature of our food. 

Another interesting thing about this village was that they didn't use refrigerators. In a town where the temperatures were between 27C to 37C throughout the year, there was no refrigerator in sight. These rock vessels not only cook well but cooked food also stays fresh in them overnight.

 

Kalchatti pots retain heat well and distribute it evenly, which gives food a distinctive taste. They’re often praised for preserving nutrients, and the slow, gentle cooking makes it feel like the ingredients haven’t been shocked by high heat.

 

It's also traditionally used to make yoghurt in summers. It makes the creamiest yogurt overnight without overly souring them. 

 

The seasoning process for the kalchatti pots is a detailed one that takes over a week. The makers offered to season our pots before shipping them to us.

 

When we placed our first order, we told them to take all the time they needed, with no pressure and no timeline. They told us that each pot would look different depending on the rock it's cut from. There was no advance payment and no written proof of order, just casual conversation .

 

Before my flight back to Australia, Kandhasamy’s wife called me at the airport. I wondered if they had realized they’d forgotten to ask for an advance. Instead, they were calling to wish me a safe journey. In that moment, I saw clearly how transactional my mind had become over time. Since then, we’ve spoken regularly. The calls are mostly about our health and our lives, with only a little about production.  

 

Maybe the reason they've turned down big contracts was because they lacked this relationality. What they’re looking for is an ongoing connection, a reciprocity, a relationship, just like the one they have with their Mountain.