In Uzbekistan, the title "Usta" is not given lightly. It means master — someone who has devoted decades to perfecting a single craft, who carries the knowledge of generations, and who shapes raw clay into objects that will outlive us all.

We work with three such masters. Each brings a different technique, a different tradition, a different piece of the Silk Road story. What unites them: an unwavering commitment to doing things the way they've always been done — slowly, by hand, with meaning.

Our Master Artisans

  • Usta Ravshan Tojidinov

    Master of the Legendary Ishkor Glaze

    Rishtan, Fergana Valley
    35+ years of mastery

    For over three decades, Usta Ravshan has devoted his life to the legendary turquoise glaze that has defined Central Asian ceramics for 800 years.

    Meet Usta Ravshan → 

  • Usta Toxir Haydarov

    Master of the Raised-Dot Technique

    Bukhara Tradition
    40+ years of mastery

    At 64, Usta Toxir has perfected a nearly extinct technique: thousands of individual dots placed by hand, each one requiring absolute precision.

    Meet Usta Toxir → 

  • Usta Dilshodjon

    Master of Multi-Compartment Vessels

    Namangan, Fergana Valley
    30+ years of mastery

    Five generations of knowledge flow through Dilshodjon's hands as he creates functional sculptures for the ancient Uzbek tradition of ceremonial hospitality.

    Meet Usta Dilshodjon → 

The Hands We Honor

A ceramic plate can be made in a factory in hours. Ours take weeks — sometimes months. The difference isn't just time. It's a choice about what kind of world we want to build.

Forty percent of every purchase goes directly to the artisan who made your piece. Not to middlemen. Not to us. To the hands that shaped the clay.

But money alone doesn't preserve a craft. So we do more. We fund kiln repairs when ancient equipment fails. We source increasingly rare materials — like the ishkor ash that creates Rishtan's legendary blue — so our masters never have to compromise their formulas. And we sponsor young apprentices learning at their side, because an 800-year tradition shouldn't end with this generation.

This isn't charity. It's partnership. Our artisans don't work for us — we work with them.