Usta Ravshan Tojidinov

Legendary ishkor glaze, geometric precision, romantic florals

Location
Rishtan
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan
Specialty
Legendary ishkor glaze, geometric precision, romantic florals
Experience
35+ years of mastery

The Master

For 35 years, Usta Ravshan has devoted his life to a single, perfect thing: the legendary ishkor glaze of Rishtan. In his workshop in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley, he transforms local clay and natural minerals into the brilliant turquoise that has defined Central Asian ceramics for 800 years.

Ravshan learned the craft from his father, who learned from his father—an unbroken chain of knowledge spanning generations. But he isn't just preserving the past; he's ensuring its future. In his workshop, he trains apprentices in techniques that must be learned through years of patient practice, not quick tutorials.

What sets Ravshan apart is his range: geometric precision in radiating stars and mathematical tessellations, yet also romantic florals and paradise garden motifs. Each piece balances technical perfection with artistic expression—the mark of a true master.

The patterns are not decoration. They are language. Each symbol carries meaning our ancestors understood—prayers for abundance, protection, harmony. My work is to keep that language alive, to speak it clearly enough that even someone who has never seen Rishtan can feel what it means.

— Usta Ravshan

The Ishkor Glaze

The secret to Rishtan ceramics lies in the ishkor glaze—a plant-based alkaline formula that has remained virtually unchanged for eight centuries.

Ravshan collects specific desert plants at the right season, burns them to ash, then soaks and filters the residue to extract alkaline compounds. Mixed with copper oxide for turquoise tones and cobalt oxide for deeper blues, this natural formula creates colors impossible to replicate with modern chemistry.

The firing process demands three full days at temperatures between 1,100-1,200°C. Ravshan monitors his kiln by instinct alone, adjusting for weather, humidity, and the position of each piece in the flames. Too hot and the color burns. Too cool and the turquoise never develops.

Each piece emerges slightly different—the glaze reacts to its position in the kiln, to the particular batch of ash, to conditions only a master can read. This isn't a limitation. It's a signature. No two pieces are identical because no two firings are identical.