Go Hamlet, located in Phan Dien Commune, is home to a Cham ethnic minority community skilled in producing beautiful Bac Binh ceramics.
The hamlet, also known by the names of Noi, Tri Duc or Play Gok in the Cham language, is one of the province’s most alluring tourist sites. Residents manufacture potteries famous for their diverse designs, light weight, durability and reasonable prices.
Villagers are said to have practiced the craft for around one thousand years, with skills being passed on from generation to generation.
More than a hundred households, especially large three-generation families, gather on their porches and yards to make pottery daily. Girls learn how to make pottery as teenagers and work the craft well into their sixties and seventies.
Three women from the hamlet, who were all over 60 years old with 50 years of experience in making pottery, were even invited to Japan to showcase and teach the craft in 1996.
Elaborate creation
The creation of pottery products begins with the village men who fetch the clay from a nearby place and mold it before handing it over to the women.
The female residents, who are in charge of overseeing and performing most of the production functions, would then bring the shapeless lumps to life.
The clay is broken into fine pieces and mixed with water, which causes it to turn light red, giving it a beautiful color and texture.
Unlike artisans in other places who use a machine-powered potter’s wheel, craftspeople in the hamlet manually rotate a small wooden horizontal disk to shape the clay.
The finished objects are then coated with a diluted clay mixture and rubbed repeatedly with a special stone to enhance the color and sheen of the glaze after being baked.
All of the objects are dried and placed in layers together with straw and firewood to be baked in a kiln through the night.
After the fire is extinguished and the objects cooled, the artisans take home their creations, which bear special marks to distinguish the owners.
To enhance the finished products, the fired potteries are sprinkled with a solution made from Chinese figs to create beautiful, distinctive black spots.
The potteries range from simple household items such as pots, water containers and earthen stoves to elaborate pieces like ornamental vases or Cham statues that cater to the demand for decorative ceramics.
Many artists have submitted their designs and placed orders from the village artisans in recent years.
The products from Go Hamlet are of high quality and greatly sought after. They are sold well across Vietnam and also widely exhibited.
The wonderful souvenirs have even traveled to many foreign countries where they are greatly admired for their uniqueness and elegance.
Reported by Phan Huy Tram |
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