Fine Art of Mud Architecture
Monday, 9 June 2025
The future lies in mud architecture. Though this sweeping statement may sound prehistoric, but it is very relevant to modern times. Building living spaces with mud is a tradition dating as back as the start of civilization. Some excellent examples from the Great Mosque - the world’s largest mud building and UNESCO’s World Heritage site – to the oldest surviving mud specimens found in the Harappa, Pakistan, show the continuous use of mud buildings.
Having grown up in mud house myself (before I moved to urban center), mud buildings have a special place rooted deep in to my cultural consciousness and this personal bond encourages a more intimate relationship between me and the mud as the material transformed from formlessness to form. Hence my interest in mud architecture and how I see its future in Pakistan.
Labels: Norbert Pintsch, Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka, Thatta Kedona
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, June 09, 2025,
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Chaudhry Norbert Pintsch
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka - a cluster of mud and brick houses - looks like any typical Pakistani village. The fact is that awareness, community work and use of appropriate technology has changed the village all together. Influence from Indus civilization from nearby Harappa and modern techniques brought by use of appropriate technology can be seen in the village together.
The toys and handicrafts made in the village are on display in international museums, prestigious galleries and showrooms in Pakistan and abroad. Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (TGD) got an international fame when village project Thatta Kedona (meaning toy from Thatta) was selected as one of the 767 worldwide projects presented in the "Themepark" at global expo in Hannover (Germany) as an example of thinking of twenty first century. The toys and handicrafts from TGD show how culture goes beyond simple work of art and becomes collaboration among applied and natural sciences as well as other forces that affect our lives.
Thatta Kedona is a project, first of its kind, in rural area where handmade quality toys are crafted using all indigenous materials and traditional designs based on cultural and folklore themes. The workmanship of the dolls and toys has acclaimed international recognition through their participation in numerous international events, exhibitions, fairs and displays. These toys are the embodiment of dreams, hopes and most of all self-reliance of the hands, which breathe a part of their own soul into them.
Read more »Labels: Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch, Thatta Kedona
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, March 04, 2025,
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Dr Senta Siller - A Tribue
Sunday, 17 November 2024
Recipient of Floriade (the Netherlands), Gestaltetes Spielgut (Creative Toys – German Toys Industry), Bundesverdienstkreuz (highest civil order of merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) and many more honors Dr. Senta Maria Anna turns 82 on November 17, 2017.
I have had the pleasure of working with this great woman, documenting her work since I met her on Okara Buss Stop (Gamber), by chance. I have always found her inspiring, untiring, giving and caring. What is the motive of her work? "I am returning back some of what I achieved in my earlier life," she says. My book Dools Toys and More would never have been possible without step by step guidance by Dr Senta Siller.
She has always been a mentor to me. She helped me look at the life from a different angle.
Happy Birthday to Dr. Senta Maria Anna – the honorable Mother of Dolls.
Read more »I have had the pleasure of working with this great woman, documenting her work since I met her on Okara Buss Stop (Gamber), by chance. I have always found her inspiring, untiring, giving and caring. What is the motive of her work? "I am returning back some of what I achieved in my earlier life," she says. My book Dools Toys and More would never have been possible without step by step guidance by Dr Senta Siller.
She has always been a mentor to me. She helped me look at the life from a different angle.
Happy Birthday to Dr. Senta Maria Anna – the honorable Mother of Dolls.
Labels: Dr. Senta Siller, Thatta Kedona, Tribute
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Sunday, November 17, 2024,
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From the Mother of the Dolls
Friday, 30 August 2024
Dear Friends!
I started in 1993 to make handicraft dolls in the village of TGD together with the village girls. The effort was based upon available resources and a respect for the local tradition. Especially the hand-made dolls representing the dresses of the different provinces and minorities became very popular.
Only scarce information was available at that time about these groups and their dresses and obtaining the relevant materials was also a problem. Detailed field studies were needed to obtain and organize the required information, which was quite expensive.
Read more »Labels: Dr. Senta Siller, Thatta Kedona
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Friday, August 30, 2024,
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Signs of the Past
Sunday, 4 August 2024
Labels: Harrapa, Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch, Thatta Kedona
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Sunday, August 04, 2024,
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Thatta Kedona
Wednesday, 27 March 2024
The cluster of mud and brick houses in the plains of Punjab, Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (TGD) looks like a typical Pakistani village about 80 kilometres away from Lahore and 40 kilometres from Indus civilization ruins in Harappa. There is no gas or telephone in the village. No asphalt roads lead to it. Yet it is different, the beautiful dolls and other handicrafts made by the village folks are collectors' delight all over the world. Influencers from Indus civilization from nearby Harappa and modern techniques brought by the German volunteers can be seen in the village together.The dolls made in the village are on display in international doll museum in Iceland, prestigious galleries and showrooms in Pakistan and abroad. TGD village doll project was one of the 767 worldwide projects presented in the "Themepark" at expo 2000 in Hannover (Germany) as an example of thinking of twenty first century. Earlier, the dolls from Pakistan participated in international toy fair in Nuremberg. These dolls show how culture goes beyond simple work of art and becomes collaboration among applied and natural sciences as well as other forces that affect our lives.
Labels: Dr. Senta Siller, Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch, Thatta Kedona
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, March 27, 2024,
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