The Eid Clay Is Growing Roots in Clay

Iman learned what handmade looked like before she learned how to do it herself. Her mother is a potter and a florist, so the house she grew up in was one where things were made by hand as a matter of course, not as a hobby someone announced. That inheritance took years to become a business, and longer still to become clay.

The Eid Shop started in 2021 as a seasonal decorations brand, built around Ramadan and Eid, with the brand identity settling into place in 2023. For the first stretch, the work was about helping families dress their homes for the Islamic calendar. Then, in 2026, Iman introduced her first Ramadan terracotta pieces, and the response told her something she had half suspected: the clay could carry more than one season.

“Working with clay feels peaceful and meaningful. Beyond income, it gives me the opportunity to create pieces that become part of people’s homes and daily lives.”

That line is the whole shift in miniature. Decorations come out for a month and go back into storage. A cooking pot stays on the stove.

What the clay is, and where it comes from

The clay is sourced locally in Kaduna, through pottery makers who have worked the material for years. It is not one uniform substance. Different products call for different clay qualities depending on what the finished piece has to do, and Iman selects accordingly. She describes good clay by feel: smooth, workable, free of unwanted particles, and willing to hold a shape without cracking too early.

Terracotta itself has deep roots across the continent, something she is conscious of even while building a contemporary brand. What drew her in technically, though, was more practical. As she researched the material before launching the collection, she found what generations of clay cooks and water carriers already knew: terracotta cools naturally, ages well, and asks very little of the environment to produce.

How a piece is made

Every item is shaped by hand, using traditional pottery techniques and simple tools. Firing is handled by experienced pottery artisans in Kaduna. A tagine moves through the following sequence:

Start to finish, depending on the weather and how the drying goes, this takes several days. Iman is candid that the waiting is the hardest part of the job. Nothing about drying or firing can be hurried, and the temptation to hurry it is constant. The part she loves is the other end of the same process, watching raw clay arrive as a finished object.

Because each piece passes through hands rather than a mould line, no two are identical. Small variations in surface and tone are the signature of the method, not a defect in it. Anything that fails her standard is reworked where it can be, and pulled from sale where it cannot.

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