About Frank Kara

Frank Kara is a potter with a purpose. By combining his passion for music and design, he creates simple, organic and evocative forms from clay, as varied as Udu drums, Japanese bells, wall sculpture, and functional vessels such as ceremonial teapots and tea bowls.

Growing up in a family of artists, art was in Frank’s blood. Naturally-gifted and initially self-taught, he discovered ceramics in high school. After his first encounter with the potter’s wheel and throwing, Frank never forgot the ensuing feeling of complete creative freedom and an immediate sense of gratification.

Following high school, Frank pursued his other passion – percussion. While attending the Berklee School of Music in Boston, he began to explore the shapes and sounds of indigenous instruments, and was fascinated by them. After Berklee, Frank went to work with his father at the family’s sign shop, and at the same time continued to perform music and explore various types of percussion instruments.

One night after he saw a percussionist playing an Udu clay pot at a concert, he decided to make one. With a renewed sense of purpose he returned to the world of ceramics and began making drums with his own hands – drums he could play and perform with. After a series of pottery classes with Kristin Muller at The Brookfield Craft Center in Connecticut, Frank knew he had honed the skills required to complete his goal – to take his new path as a potter.

Most of Frank Kara’s pottery is in the raku style; some is anagama wood-fired. Over the years, he has expanded into decorative and functional vessels, wedding vessels and ceremonial tea sets. Frank’s latest pieces incorporate many of the invaluable woodworking skills he acquired while working alongside his father at the sign shop.