Those who preserve time through pottery…

On a weekend morning, people, who have the same passion for old pottery and ceramic products of Binh Duong, had a get-together in Chanh Nghia ward, Thu Dau Mot city. This is also one of the "cradles" of Binh Duong pottery. They voluntarily set up a club for people who love traditional handicraft products of Binh Duong to exchange their favorite items…

Many people with the same passion for ancient pottery met to exchange their favorite items.

Old-time pottery enthusiasts

The older an item gets, the more people love it and the higher its price is, that's what we know as coming to a cafe, which is also the place to display more than 1,000 pottery products and collections of Nguyen Ngoc Hung’s couple in Chanh Nghia ward.  To have a collection of antiques as well as old-time pottery with thousands of such items is a process of collecting and research done by this couple for decades. Hung said that a trip always lasted many days from North to Central and then to the South to collect and exchange his favorite items.

Hung's grandmother's house in Quarter 5 of Chanh Nghia ward was one of the famous pottery kilns in the past. His mother also followed the family traditional career. He also learned the job from his mother and soon became interested in pottery. In the cafe space, he and other pottery enthusiasts passionately talked about enamel color, brushstrokes, and age of each potter product from Thanh Le, Lai Thieu, Ho Chi Minh City, Bien Hoa...

Here, we also met Luu Quang Viet from Bien Hoa, Dong Nai. He said that although he did not grow up in a family of pottery, he has been passionate about pottery for a long time. As a mechanical engineer, every time when he hears that somewhere has pottery, wood, sandstone products showing characteristics of Oc Eo and Champa cultures, he will immediately come to see the item, then bought old pottery products from craft villages of Bat Trang (Hanoi), Bau Truc (Ninh Thuan), and many famous products of Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ho Chi Minh City.

“Many times, Dong Nai Provincial Museum held pottery exhibitions, and I was very happy as bringing my products there to display. A few years ago, I sold all my pottery items to earn more than 2 billion VND to invest in a business. Thanks to my passion for pottery, I met many people with similar interests, so I was very happy. I hope that there will be more and more people that are passionate about and retain a proud traditional profession of the Southern region," said Viet.

At the get-together, we also met many people who are doctors, businessmen, civil servants etc. and have in the same passion for pottery, a desire to connect antique enthusiasts. They talked passionately about elephant pedestals, flower vases, potted plants... and forgot the time and the heat of April, like the auction of ceramic products was also hot in that day.

Desire to preserve a traditional craft

At the meeting, to connect with members from Ho Chi Minh City, Bien Hoa, members of Binh Duong also held an auction of donated products to raise funds for the club of pottery enthusiasts. Each product was paid for about 1.2 million VND and only professional ones can see all the beauty, sophistication, and the soul that potters put into the item. Hung added that here most pottery is from old pottery kilns in Chanh Nghia, Lai Thieu (Thuan An), Tan Phuoc Khanh (Tan Uyen).  Two large pots for growing ornamental plants can be priced at tens of millions of VND. Pottery pots are still favored by flower growers because of their intricate patterns drawn by potters. A pair of elephant-shaped pedestals is also priced at about 6 million VND. "Coming here, many people want to keep a part of their childhood memories when they find old-time cups, glasses, tea pots etc. that are really rare in the modern ceramic market today", Hung said. He also said that pottery job today has more difficulties than before, but he still pursues it with all his passion so that a traditional craft village will not be lost but live forever.

To tell us the difference between pottery and porcelain, an enthusiastic ceramic collector explained: Ceramics have a lower firing temperature than porcelain. Porcelain is fired at the highest temperature of 1,300 degrees Celsius, gas furnaces usually only heat to 1,280 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is raised even higher, the product will be distorted, cracked, or broken. Ceramics have a lower firing temperature, only about 700 - 800 degrees Celsius. Pottery is crude one that was fired but without enamel, the material is usually rough. If it is glazed ceramic, it must be called porcelain.

To further explain the passion and necessity of preserving this traditional craft, Nguyen Huu Phuc, Chairman of Antiquities Club of Thuan An City, said that his club currently has about 50 members sharing the same passion for antiques in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and some western provinces. People come together because they like to collect antiques of various genres: pottery, furniture, paintings, photos... Ancient pottery is often used in home decoration. Pottery has many types from household appliances, worship items, utensils and the preciousness of pottery is unique.

“Pottery collectors often look at materials, patterns, and paintings to guess the age of a product. One of the things that makes ancient pottery unique is the folk painter’s drawing that has no two works alike. Only Binh Duong craftsmen can make unique and special pottery and ceramic products that are not found anywhere else. That's why Binh Duong ceramics go far, to the North, to the West as well as to other countries in the world. Therefore, members need to share information with each other in order to jointly preserve the unique products of craft villages," Phuc said.

With people who know how to cherish the traditional craft of the homeland like this, pottery will not be lost. That's what I thought when I met people who were passionate about rustic and familiar traits of pottery. They keep the time, preserve a traditional profession that the ancestors have passed from generation to generation.

Vuong Thanh Vu, Vice Chairman of People's Committee of Phu Cuong Ward, Thu Dau Mot City, is also very enthusiastic about famous pottery traditional villages. Socialization capital formed pottery project at Lao Cai street, Chanh Nghia ward. This project consists of 8 works (from Nguyen Tri Phuong street to Cach Mang Thang Tam) documenting the process of pottery making The project was made in the spring 2021 and still serves as a unique way to introduce to locals and visitors that this place has a famous pottery village.

Reported by Quynh Nhu - Translated by Ngoc Huynh