Clay Plates Manufacturer,Clay Food Plates Supplier,Exporter,India

Owner Profile

Our founder, Mr. Mansukhbhai Prajapati, is a traditional clay craftsman who has years of experience in this field. He is a pioneer who has developed a vast range of earthen products such as Clay Water Filter Pots, Clay Food Plate and Clay Pot For Cooking that can be used daily in kitchen.

Mansukhbhai was born into the Prajapati family that originally belongs to the village Nichimandal of Morbi, Rajkot. He had seen the ancient clay making techniques since his childhood, as pottery was his family's traditional profession. As the only son and the eldest among his siblings, he helped his father in his work regularly, but his real interest lied in cricket and other games. In his younger days, he used to fetch clay from different ponds and fields, load it on a donkey and bring it back home. Apart from this, he did not contribute much to the pottery work. But this changed after the failure of Machhu dam of Morbi in 1979. His family had lost all their valuables and they had to shift to Wankaner. To support their family, his father took the job of a mason and Mansukhbhai joined a small rooftop tile manufacturing unit where he was employed as a worker. This was the beginning of his amazing journey, which today has reached a point where he is acknowledged as a successful businessman.

The MittiCool Story

The company was conceptualized after the devastating earthquake of January 2001, where our owner, Mansukhbhai incurred heavy loss and most of his goods were damaged. He distributed the leftover stock that was undamaged, to the quake affected masses of Kutch. This led to a photograph that was taken just after the earthquake and featured on the Sandesh Gujarati Daily in February 2001. It showed a broken water filter that was made by Mansukhbhai with a caption that said broken fridge of poor.

It was this caption that gave birth to a thought of making a Rural Fridge that does not require electricity and serves as cost effective refrigerator for the citizens. Even though the idea was formed during the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, the actual work started in 2002. At that time, he met the Gujarat Grass-roots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN), Ahmedabad, which supported Mansukhbhai further in his endeavors. Finally after an arduous quest and several tests of soil and fridge designs, he emerged with the innovative Mitticool fridge in 2005. This product caught the attention of a civil engineer who liked the concept and gave the first order of 100 pieces and advance of INR 2 lakh to begin with. And this was the start of an eventful journey of MittiCool.

The Initial Struggle

Even though Mansukhbhai's family was struggling due to their unstable finances, his parents always encouraged him to study. He received education up to tenth standard, after which he left studies to support the family's income. He joined a small factory where he worked daily. But unfortunately, in the very first month of his employment, his injured his left eye while working inside a chimney. It was a difficult period as he had to remain unemployed for over a period of eight months. After he regained his eyesight, he setup a tea lorry near the highway in 1984. After few months into the tea selling business, he heard about a job opening in a rooftop tile manufacturing unit. On getting this opportunity, he shut down the tea lorry and joined Jagdamba Potteries as a trainee at Rs. 300 per month in 1985. There, he worked hard for three consecutive years and learned all the nuances of pottery. Meanwhile, he also helped his parents marry off his younger sisters.

The Entrepreneurial Streak

During his stint at the pottery unit, he gained vast knowledge of the trade which gave birth to the desire of starting his own enterprise. As a child, he had seen the local potters making earthen pans and hot plates (known as Kaladi/Tavdi) on the manual potters wheel (locally known as Chhakdo). With the help of this wheel, one person could make only 100 pieces per day. But he had seen the roof tiles getting manufactured in bulk quantities on hand press at the factory, which made him wonder whether earthen pans could be made in similar manner.

He finally took the plunge by quitting his job in 1988 and taking a loan of INR 30,000 from a money lender to establish his own earthen plate production unit. With the loan money, he purchased a small piece of land, where he built his factory and installed dyes and presses, soil mixing machine, electric potters wheel and other scrap objects in it. He put his years of knowledge to good use and modified the roof tile making hand press to transform into a hand press machine that had a large capacity of producing 700 earthen pans every day.

The Turning Point

The defining moment of Mansukhbhai's life came in the year 1995, when a business man from Rajkot, Mr. Chiragbhai Patel came to his native place in Wankaner in the search of a reliable vendor who could supply good quality of Clay Water Filters. He was an exporter who had to fulfill a client order that was bound to Nairobi, Kenya. Upon learning about Mansukhbhai's business venture from Jagdamba Potteries, where he was previously employed. Then Chiragbhai contacted him for looking at the water filter designs, which was very much appreciated.

The Road Ahead

Mansukhbhai has several accolades to his name. He has taken part in Saatvik-the Traditional Food Festival in 2008 where showcased his innovations apart from the regular clay products he sells. There, the traditional black haandi (pot) he had made, grabbed the attention of many visitors at his stall. They asked him to improve it which gave him an idea to make the Clay Cooker. Ever since then, he has developed several earthen utensils design of eating plates with separate dish holding sections, glasses and bowls. He has also unveiled a new range of cooker and kitchen utensils at Saatvik- the Traditional Food Festival at IIM Ahmedabad in December 2009.

Mitticool Catering Services

Our company also provides full service outdoor catering in various events and can organize all types of functions. We can manage events of any size, any theme and any location in India with perfection.