Golden bridge Pottery was started in 1971 in Pondicherry by Deborah Smith and Ray Meeker. At this time the only glazed tableware was being made at Delhi Blue Art Pottery. Since this was not a commercial production, it was not available in large quantities at any shop. The availability of high fired glazed stoneware pottery made at Golden Bridge created much excitement for pottery lovers in the city. This pottery retailed at an outlet called ‘the shop’, in Connaught Place in New Delhi, in the early seventies.

Deborah Smith graduated in Japanese, and spent two years studying pottery in Japan. Ray Meeker studied architecture for 4 years and did his BFA in ceramics .They met in the ceramics department in the University of Southern California in 1969. In December of the same year Deborah Smith came to Pondicherry, the home of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, and was asked to start a pottery. When Ray Meeker arrived in Pondicherry in March 1971, they decided to start Golden Bridge Pottery.

Today theirs is a small scale handmade production pottery, producing contemporary glazed pottery, available all over India. There are potters spread all over the country working in their own studios, having trained under Ray Meeker, through his teaching programs, from the mid seventies to the early eighties. In and around Pondicherry, there are fifteen potteries making a variety of products.

Pondicherry is a three hour drive from Chennai.