Iskandar Jalil is Singapore’s foremost master potter. Apprenticed and trained in Japan on a prestigious Colombo Plan scholarship in the ’70s, Iskandar creates organic, textured works of clay that marry Japanese discipline and philosophy with Southeast Asian and Islamic motifs and inspirations from his travels. His works feature in many public and private collections, including those of the National Museum of Sweden, Sultan of Brunei and Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. At the heart of his approach to pottery—one of hard work and discipline, honesty and authenticity—lies a fierce integrity that seeks only the highest quality. In 1988, he received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore.

Born on 5 Jan 1940 in Singapore, Iskandar Jalil grew up the youngest of five children in Kampong Chantek in Bukit Timah. He went on to become a mathematics and science graduate at the Teachers’ Training College. It was during this time that he also developed an interest in art while taking an art module there in 1959, eventually becoming an art teacher.

In 1966, Iskandar received a Colombo Plan scholarship to study textile weaving and spinning in India. After that, he was talent-spotted by an inspector of schools, who got him to teach pottery in the newly established Baharuddin Vocational Institute. While there, he received another Colombo Plan scholarship and went to study ceramics engineering at Tajimi City Pottery Design and Technical Centre in Japan.

There, Iskandar fell in love with pottery and developed a lifelong respect for Japanese craftsmanship, philosophy, discipline and culture. He was especially struck by the Mingei Craft Movement of the early 1900s which championed the handcrafted art of ordinary people and celebrated the beauty in finely made everyday utilitarian objects. He was also inspired by an apprenticeship to the late renowned Japanese folk art ceramicist, Shoji Hamada, as well as English potter Bernard Leach, whom he had met in Mexico. Iskandar’s time in Japan would be hugely influential on his later pottery work.

After Japan, Iskandar returned to Singapore with a new view of pottery and his dual roles as a potter and pottery teacher. He became a potter defined by discipline, hard work, authenticity and instinct, and approached his works economically, using limited means and local materials. He prepared his own clay and glazes rather than buying pottery materials, and believed in letting the clay guide his craft. His works—comprising utilitarian “bread-and-butter” pieces as well as art works—became known for their subtle use of Southeast Asian motifs, their matte glazes, their often-present blue oxide colour which came to be known as “Iskandar Blue”, and their distillation of his identity and experiences into simple, earthy pieces.

Iskandar remained a teacher for over five decades until his retirement when he began to teach privately. He taught subjects such as art, pottery and material design at Singapore educational institutions, namely Baharuddin Vocational Institute, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and in the School of Design in Temasek Polytechnic. A strict teacher with very high standards, Iskandar was a fearsome educator who used to tear up work and give zero marks for shoddy work. His students over the years included respected arts critic Kirpal Singh, actress Zoe Tay, food critic K. F. Seetoh, and filmmaker Royston Tan. In his private practice, Iskandar continued to be formidable mentor whose stringent teaching methods required his students to destroy and discard any work that was not up to standard.

Throughout his career, Iskandar has participated in 34 group art and ceramic exhibitions in Singapore and overseas, been invited to exhibit in countries such as Korea and Sweden, and held 12 solo exhibitions. Iskandar has also created many large-scale commissions. These include a mural at the Tanjong Pagar MRT station in Singapore in 1988, a wall mural at Changi International Airport Terminal 2 in 1990, a work for the clocktower at Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan in 1992, a wall mural for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2002, and a work at the Marina Barrage for Singapore’s Public Utilities Board in 2004. His works also feature in many private and public collections in Singapore and around the world, such as those of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, its former President Wee Kim Wee, the Sultan of Brunei, former USA president George Bush, and the National Museums of Singapore and Sweden.

Iskandar was also an active promoter of the arts. In the ’90s, he served as arts advisor to the National Arts Council and a committee member with the Creative Arts Centre at National University of Singapore and the Singapore Art Museum. At that time, he was also among 10 arts leaders—including art critic and curator T. K. Sabapathy, Professor Tommy Koh, artists Ong Kim Seng, Thomas Yeo, and Joseph McNally—selected by President Ong Teng Cheong to discuss how to make the Singapore arts scene more vibrant, eventually leading to the conception of a national performing arts centre, which came to be Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.

For his many contributions, Iskandar has received numerous awards including the 1977 Special Award at the National Day Art Exhibition and 2012 Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Star). In 1988, he received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore. When he returned to Japan in 2000 to visit his old teacher, the latter conferred on him the title of “master potter” in acknowledgement of the full circle of his journey. In 2015, in recognition of his contributions in building cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and Singapore for over 40 years, Iskandar was conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette by the Emperor of Japan, making him the first Singapore artist to receive the award.

Today, Iskandar continues to travel regularly for inspiration. He also continues to teach pottery privately and create both utilitarian ceramic pieces and art works. Through the decades, he has had his studio-teaching centre housed at the National University of Singapore Centre for the Arts, the Malay Heritage Centre, the Jalan Bahar kiln and in his home. He currently practices and teaches at a pottery centre located in Temasek Polytechnic, which has a garden that functions as a “pottery graveyard”, strewn with sub-standard work that has been broken and discarded.

An exhibition of Iskandar’s at the Japan Creative Centre in 2015—In Pursuit of the Ethical Pot—featured his works, but put the spotlight on the works of a selection of his students, whom he hopes will take his place one day and carry his artistic philosophy on.