“It’s fantastically therapeutic,” says Bhaggie Patel, ceramic artist and co-founder of Manchester’s Imprints of Earth ceramics studio. “Sometimes I’ll be sitting at the wheel and I’m so engrossed in what I’m doing, I don’t realise it’s turned dark outside.” Bhaggie is leading me in a one-to-one throwing class, teaching me how to turn an amorphous lump of clay into something useful, maybe even beautiful: a pot, perhaps, or a mug or bowl. As I look down, though — at my hands


caked in clay, my shoe twitching unassuredly on the foot pedal, and the gloopy grey mess spinning sadly before me on the wheel — ‘therapeutic’ is not the word that immediately comes to mind. Bhaggie is patient with me, however, and I soon begin to understand what she means. I stop overthinking, and the minutes melt away along with the worries of the day, replaced by a state of flow: complete immersion in an act at once wholesome, practical and creative. “Any creative hobby can have huge physical


and mental health benefits,” Bhaggie says. “It reduces stress and anxiety, increases positive emotions, and helps with problem solving. It gives you a sense of control and pride in whatever it is you’re making.” Bhaggie understands more than most the


healing power of arts and crafts. A former social worker, she set up Imprints of Earth with her daughter Shakti after the sudden death of her husband, Nitin, in 2018. The shelves around us are stacked with her creations: smoke-fired vases, mottled in red, black and grey; Japanese-style raku teapots, their surfaces swirled with horsehair and feathers which create unique, ethereal patterns during the firing process. “Making ceramics is an amazing metaphor for life: learning when to let go, knowing what you can and can’t control, and celebrating the beauty of imperfection,” she says. Imprints of Earth is one of 20 shop-studios


housed within the Manchester Craft and Design Centre, in the city’s artsy Northern Quarter. Bhaggie holds classes and workshops on request; other upcoming classes, advertised on a wall poster, promise visitors the opportunity to make the perfect souvenir: a leather purse, a glass sun catcher, or a silver bangle. Classes are also advertised at The Cyan Studio, a few doors down from Bhaggie’s workshop, where artist Victoria Glover teaches visitors the art of cyanotype, laying foraged twigs and leaves on chemically treated paper to create gorgeous blue and white photographic patterns. The centre sits in the impressive surrounds


of the former Smithfield Market, a handsome building dating back to 1873. As I step out of Bhaggie’s studio into the atrium, sunlight


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