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About
Dear reader,
After 7 years of working as a graphic designer in tech, I realised that digital design, however lucrative and interesting, feels cheap and ubiquitous. The internet became easy to flood with thoughtless work, and as a designer, you were often forced into doing things that felt empty and uninspired.
Coming from a middle-class family, starting a business was never the expected path. The safer option was always encouraged—engineer first, everything else later mindset. But I knew I couldn’t keep working the same way, even if it paid the bills.
In late 2023, I took a trial pottery class, and it immediately hooked me. After a few weekend sessions, I knew I wanted to go deeper. By August 2024, I quit my job and joined the residency program at Anvi Pottery. I trained under Master Potter Sandeep Manchekar, learning a wide range of firing techniques from gas to soda. I also had the privilege of assisting him while preparing for his solo show at Ninefish Art Gallery in Mumbai. To this day, it’s a gift to call him my mentor.
Studio Genki is the project that has grown from this journey. It is entirely self-funded, supported by family, friends, and the guidance of my mentor. As of September 2025, this will be my full-time occupation and primary source of income. For me, Studio Genki is about making with honesty and showing up every day. Genki, in Japanese, means a kind of vital energy — and that’s what I hope my work carries.
I need your full support to make this happen. If my work resonates with you, if it feels meaningful in any way, please consider subscribing, sharing, or purchasing when collections go live. I promise to work diligently and uphold the highest standards in everything I create.
You can support Studio Genki by directly donating to us by clicking on the button below.
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Principles and approach
“All buildings are predictions. All predictions are wrong”
When I first heard this quote, I had no idea it would have such an impact on me and influence my studio’s development.
If Studio Genki is a living, breathing building, I do not want to predict what the building is going to evolve into. It is effectively a blank canvas.
But the foundation has to be laid out, and the canvas has to be stretched.
At its core, Studio Genki is an art and design studio that aims to do high-quality, human-made work.
The studio operates with two fundamental principles.
- Create thoughtful pieces. Thoughtful, not in the abstract sense. Thoughtful in the sense that the work that is being done at Studio Genki should be done with care and attention to detail.
- Be like Sisyphus. As Camus described, show up every day and push that boulder up the hill. Even if it rolls down, which it eventually does, walk back down hill and repeat. The process is the reward.
If these two principles can be upheld, then that is the success of the studio. The business itself might evolve, and the studio’s style would evolve. But the operating principles remain the same.
What’s in a name?
Genki is a Japanese word and is loosely translated as energy. But the word itself is complex. It means “Origin Energy”. Think of it more like The Force from Star Wars. Genki means the energy that flows through us.
Initially, the logo was designed as a wordmark, but it didn’t feel “universal”. Hence, the updated symbol, which maintains the same silhouette of the original logo, will be the vessel that carries the principles of the studio.
When we talk about univesality, it means emptiness. The vessel has to be empty to be able to carry the meaning.
About Koushik
Koushik is a graphic designer and a potter. Born in Coimbatore, he was raised in the southern part of Tamil Nadu in Tuticorin. He completed his college in Chennai, and continued to work there. The pandemic provided him with the opportunity to move to his hometown, Coimbatore.
After 7 years in the tech industry, Koushik decided to dabble with pottery towards the end of 2023. A couple of weekend classes were enough to make him fall in love with the idea of expressing ideas through clay. In August 2024, he signed up for a long-term training at Anvi Pottery.
At Anvi, he learnt pottery under the guidance of Master Potter Sandeep Manchekar. He also had the privilege of assisting Sandeep during his solo ceramic exhibition in Mumbai at Ninefish Art Gallery.
In January 2025, he was also lucky enough to assist John Dix during a 2-week woodfiring workshop at Anvi.
Koushik has exposure to Wood firing, gas firing, naked raku firing, soda firing and lustre firing.
After an incredible 8-month journey at Anvi, he started Studio Genki in Coimbatore at a very modest scale. He runs a solo operation and you can reach out to him by following the link below:
Email koushik@studiogenki.in to get in touch with Koushik.
