Long before modern kitchenware and decorative ornaments became common in Ghanaian homes, clay played an important role in everyday life.
From cooking traditional meals to storing water and decorating homes, moulded clay has for generations been part of Ghana’s cultural heritage. Today, however, the practice is gradually becoming less common as modern alternatives take over.
But for Matthew Awutey, working with clay is more than just a craft. It is a way of keeping an old tradition alive.
Awutey is a clay moulder who turns ordinary soil into beautiful and useful objects. With his hands and simple tools, he carefully shapes the clay into different forms, including animals such as rabbits and other decorative pieces.
Some of his creations are designed specifically for decoration, while others can be used in homes. He also moulds pieces that can be used with water, as well as traditional clay vessels suitable for cooking food.
The process begins with the preparation of the soil. The clay is carefully selected, prepared, and moulded before it is shaped into the desired form. Through patience and skill, what appears to be ordinary earth is transformed into objects with both practical and artistic value.
For Awutey, the work also provides an opportunity to demonstrate how clay can still have a place in modern homes.
His animal-shaped creations, for instance, can be used to add character to gardens, flower pots and other spaces around the home. Meanwhile, the traditional cooking vessels remind many people of an era when clay pots were a familiar sight in Ghanaian kitchens.
Beyond their usefulness, these clay products carry a cultural story.
They represent the knowledge passed from one generation to another and the creativity of artisans who have learned to transform natural materials into objects that serve everyday purposes.
As modern products continue to dominate the market, artisans like Matthew Awutey are keeping alive a craft that could otherwise disappear from everyday life.
His work raises an important question: Can traditional clay craftsmanship find a new place in the modern Ghanaian home?
For Awutey, the answer appears to be in the clay itself — a simple material from the earth, capable of becoming a cooking vessel, a water container, a flower-pot decoration, or even a carefully sculpted rabbit.
And with every piece he moulds, an old Ghanaian tradition continues to take shape.
