Preserving the soul of Phnom Pi pottery.

The "golden age"

Arriving at the foot of Phnom Pi mountain on a sweltering summer afternoon, following the directions of the locals, I made my way to Phnom Pi pottery village. It's called a pottery village because about 30 years ago, several dozen Khmer families in Phnom Pi hamlet practiced this craft. After many inquiries, I found the house of Mrs. Néang Sóc Nát, who still preserves the Phnom Pi pottery-making tradition.

In front of her house, several newly molded clay pots were drying in the sun, their clay still wet. Nearby, various traditional tools such as pounding tables, smoothing tables, support tables, and water basins were displayed. With a slow, unassuming demeanor, Mrs. Néang Sóc Nát told me about the "golden age" of Phnom Pi pottery.

“I don’t remember exactly when pottery started, I only know that my grandmother and mother have been doing it for a very long time. I’m the third generation in my family to do it. When I was 14 or 15, I started learning pottery from my mother, and now I’m over 50. All in all, pottery making in Phnom Pi is over 100 years old,” recalled Mrs. Néang Sóc Nát.

Khmer women in Phnom Pi hamlet are preserving traditional crafts. Photo: THANH TIEN

In the woman's slow-paced story, I saw the image of strong, muscular Khmer men climbing Phnom Pi mountain to carry clay back home. This clay, found on the mountaintop of their homeland, is both pliable and smooth, and has excellent binding properties, creating sturdy and durable pottery products. For experienced potters like Mrs. Néang Sóc Nát, only the clay from Phnom Pi mountain can produce products that truly embody the "soul" of the ancient craft village.

She explained that the clay is mixed with water and left to ferment for 2-3 days before being molded into pottery. With their skillful hands, Khmer women create clay stoves, pots, cake molds, and earthenware pots. In reality, the purpose of Phnom Pi pottery is to serve daily life, so it doesn't require a high level of skill. However, through meticulousness, hard work, and love for their homeland's soil, Khmer women have offered the world quality products that possess a genuine beauty, reflecting the simple lifestyle and way of thinking of their people.

“Back then, there were so many people making pottery! There were always several blazing fires firing pottery in the village. Phnom Pi pottery wasn't fired in kilns; it was only fired with straw and firewood. Pottery that took the right amount of heat would turn a reddish-brown color and would be very durable. Almost every day, buyers would come to pick up pottery to sell elsewhere. My family also relied on pottery to make a living year-round,” affirmed Mrs. Néang Sóc Nát.

Preserving the soul of the pottery village.

Now, the number of people still involved in pottery making in Phnom Pi hamlet can be counted on the fingers of one hand. People like Mrs. Neang Soc Nat are carrying the mission of "keeping the flame" of the craft alive. Next to Mrs. Neang Soc Nat's house are other elders like Neang Nhay, Neang Sa Ra... who are also nearing retirement age, but still diligently working in the craft. It's just that Phnom Pi pottery is no longer suitable for modern life.

“Nowadays, people only use gas or electric stoves, so traditional clay stoves are no longer useful. Only food vendors or families in rural areas who still keep wood-burning stoves use them, so the demand has decreased. Therefore, young people in Phnom Pi hamlet don't pursue pottery making; they've all gone to work in factories. Only I and a few aunts and sisters who know the craft are trying to preserve it. Besides, some traders from neighboring areas still come to buy pottery, so I can still make a living from this profession,” said Mrs. Néang Sóc Nát honestly.

Phnom Pi pottery products are durable and serve human life. Photo: THANH TIEN

As a "colleague" of Ms. Néang Sóc Nát, Ms. Néang Sa Ra is also trying to preserve the craft she's been practicing since her youth. "I'm getting old, so I'm trying to keep the craft going for as long as I can. At this age, I can't do anything else. Luckily, the roads are easy to travel now; I can hire people to bring the clay to my door, and with my skills, I can make a batch of pottery. Every day, I make 3-4 clay stoves, earning 150,000 dong, enough to support my family," Ms. Néang Sa Ra shared.

For this Khmer woman, making Phnom Pi pottery is not just a profession. It's a memory, a place that holds the imprints and memories of her life. Therefore, even though her eyesight is failing and her hands are no longer as nimble as they were in her youth, she still diligently and meticulously works on each product. She says she will stay with the craft until she can no longer do it.

During conversations with genuine Khmer women, I came across small, pretty Phnom Pi pottery products that fit comfortably in the palm of their hands. They mentioned that some travel companies had ordered these items as gifts, at a price of 30,000 VND per piece.

"I can make these small clay stoves. It's just that people order only a few, and if I make too many, I don't know who to sell them to. If there are orders, I think the pottery makers in Phnom Pi will all work together to sell them to tourists," said Ms. Néang Sóc Nát.

The story of Mrs. Neang Soc Nat offers a glimpse into the future of Phnom Pi pottery in modern society, linking it to tourism in the form of souvenir products. To achieve this goal, the involvement of the tourism industry and support from local authorities are needed to preserve the centuries-old traditional craft of the Khmer people in the Bay Nui region.

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