The Kathmandu Canister Set emerged from a collaboration between Nirman Studio and ceramicist Mina Maharjan, whose workshop in Patan's pottery quarter of Nag Bahal has been producing hand-thrown domestic ware for twenty years. The brief was simple: a set of kitchen storage canisters that felt genuinely of this place — in material, colour, and weight — rather than imported or imitative of ceramic traditions from elsewhere. The answer was found, literally, underfoot: the iron-rich clay soils of the Kathmandu Valley, when processed and fired, produce a warm ochre-brown that is entirely distinct from the grey-white of Chinese export porcelain or the terracotta of Mediterranean earthenware.

Each canister is thrown individually on a kick wheel from a local stoneware clay body mixed by Maharjan from Valley clay and a small addition of Kaolin for throwing stability. The form is a simple cylinder with a slightly narrowed neck and a thrown lid whose knob is formed in the same session as the lid itself — no assembly, no separate fittings. The glaze is a single matte iron-ochre developed over two years of testing with locally sourced mineral pigments: iron oxide from Sindhupalchok, feldspar from Langtang, and a small addition of wood ash from the kiln itself. The result is a surface that is matte and slightly rough to the touch, warm in colour, and resistant to chipping in daily kitchen use.

The set comprises three canisters: small (1.2 litre), medium (2.4 litre), and large (4 litre), proportioned for spices, grains, and flour respectively. They are food-safe, dishwasher-safe, and intended for daily use rather than display — though they are, inevitably, displayed. They are produced in small batches of twelve sets, fired twice yearly in Maharjan's wood-fired kiln. Slight variations in glaze colour and surface texture between pieces within a set, and between batches, are intrinsic to the process and considered a quality rather than an inconsistency.