Lai Thieu Pottery - The mark of the Southern land in each layer of old glaze
Located at the southern gateway of Binh Duong , Lai Thieu is a land that was once famous for its famous handicraft products, including pottery. Formed in the mid-19th century, Lai Thieu pottery is a technical and aesthetic fusion of three Chinese pottery lines: Chaozhou, Fujian and Guangdong. Thanks to the characteristics of clay soil with a high kaolin ratio and abundant firewood, the pottery industry here developed rapidly, creating a pottery line with a unique style: Liberal, full of folk character and close to the Vietnamese people.
Collector Nguyen Huu Phuc shares about Lai Thieu pottery.
Lai Thieu pottery does not aim for sophistication and glossiness but rather focuses on emotions and the “idea” of the artisan. Folk motifs such as chickens, fish, bamboo branches, swallows, etc. are not only decorative but also cultural symbols: The chicken signals dawn, vitality and labor; the swallow is associated with the wedding season and the reunion season; peanut oil lamps bring light to every small kitchen during difficult years.
Some typical patterns and decorative motifs of Lai Thieu pottery line.
At the Nguyen An Ninh Digital Library Space (Nguyen Van Binh Book Street), the exhibition “Southern Ceramics - A Hundred-Year Mark” is displaying many rare artifacts of this ceramic line. Large teapots used in wedding parties, oil lamps for tables and walls, or blue-white enamel-painted ceramic pillows from the 30s - 50s of the last century... not only have aesthetic value but also reflect the lifestyle, culture and soul of the people of the South in the past.
According to collector Nguyen Huu Phuc, Chairman of the Thuan An Antiques Association, who has spent many years researching Lai Thieu pottery, the uniqueness of this pottery line lies not only in the technique but also in the “love” of the maker. “Lai Thieu pottery lives on memories. Each piece of pottery is like a story told from the old house, the kitchen corner, the sound of the rooster crowing in the morning to weddings and death anniversaries. Each product has a soul,” Mr. Phuc shared.
Lai Thieu pottery exhibition space at Nguyen Van Binh Book Street.
In that exhibition space, viewers not only see artifacts but also feel a vivid past knocking on the door of the present to find a chance for revival.
Young people keep the "fire" for the land with passion and creativity
The talk about “The journey of preserving and restoring Lai Thieu pottery: When the present is a continuation and fresh creation in the modern flow” attracted special attention. The main character is Huynh Xuan Huynh, a young man who chose to turn to the road less traveled: Rebuilding the pottery kiln, reviving the glaze that seemed to have fallen asleep.
Mr. Huynh Xuan Huynh, Founder of Nang Ceramic shares with interested people.
Born and raised among imported ceramic products, Huynh was unfamiliar with Vietnamese ceramics. But thanks to a neighbor who had a hobby of collecting ceramics, he gradually developed a passion for it, and then quietly nurtured an ideal: to do something to preserve a part of his homeland's culture.
Accordingly, Huynh founded “Nang Ceramics”, a small ceramic workshop in Lai Thieu, carrying the aspiration of “blowing sunshine into the soil”, passing on the passion for ceramics and for his own generation.
“I don’t make pottery because it’s easy, but because few people are willing to do it these days. The fewer people keep it, the more I can’t give it up,” Huynh shared. Not only does Huynh restore old techniques, he also boldly experiments with new glazes, designs modern models, opens pottery making classes for students, organizes kiln tours, and shares knowledge about the craft with the community.
Pottery is not just for looking at but for using, for understanding, for touching a part of memory.
For Huynh, the future of ceramics is not to return to the golden age of the past but to create a “new life” for ceramics, where young people can find themselves in this seemingly distant material. “Ceramics are not just for looking at but for using, for understanding, for touching a part of the memory, not only of the craft village but of each person,” Huynh added.
Many young people have come to the “Nang” workshop to try making pottery, to feel the slowness of the earth, of the fire and the revival of a profession that is on the verge of extinction. From simple pottery wheels, today’s young people are joining Huynh Xuan Huynh in writing a new chapter for Lai Thieu pottery with their own contemporary lifestyle.
The ever-creative hands are contributing to preserving the pottery profession.
Ceramics are the material of earth, fire, and time. But above all, ceramics are a matter of human beings - a matter of preservation, love, and regeneration. Looking back at the journey of Lai Thieu ceramics through the exhibition, through the confidences of young artisans, it is easy to see that traditional culture cannot live forever if it is only "preserved" in glass cabinets, but needs to be "continued" in real life, where there are hands, minds, and hearts.
As Huynh Xuan Huynh shared in the conclusion: “Heritage is not in the past but in the way we continue to live with it”. And that is what makes the seemingly quiet pottery become a journey that is always moving, a journey where the earth still tells stories in the language of hands that are constantly creating.
Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/gom-lai-thieu-hoi-sinh-qua-ban-tay-sang-tao-cua-nguoi-tre-a422001.html
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