Alisher Nazirov Workshop

About the master

Alisher Nazirov is a first-generation Rishtan potter. He trained under Usto Eliboy Daliev, Usto Abdukadyr and Abdukadyr's son Kimsanboy Abdukadyrov, and regards the celebrated master Ibrohim Kamilov as his guiding authority. As an 'usto naqqosh' he is known for his gift for painting pottery.

Nazirov was among the first in Rishtan to open a ceramics school-workshop, where he and his former pupils teach. He too has turned his home into an open workshop-museum, where visitors can watch pieces being made and painted and buy finished work.

Why go

The school-workshop shows how Rishtan pottery passes from one generation to the next, with young apprentices working alongside the masters. Visited together with Rustam Usmanov's workshop, it lets you compare two approaches — that of a professionally trained artist and the traditional master-and-apprentice (usto–shogird) school. Both workshops are in town, a few kilometres apart.

Rishtan's masters

The master-and-apprentice tradition runs deep in Rishtan: one of Nazirov's teachers, Ibrohim Kamilov, is regarded as one of the most influential Rishtan potters of the 20th century. Other well-known names include Sharofiddin Yusupov, a full member of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan, and Ganijon Eliboyev, who blended local tradition with the manner of ancient Greek vase painting. Each workshop has its own recognisable style.