Young artisans and the philosophy of Buddha pottery

In the pottery making process of Bat Trang people, there is a basic manual technique called “be chach”, which is often used to create large-sized products. Few people expect that this traditional manual technique, which was thought to have disappeared, is now used by young artisan Nguyen Truong Son as a representative of a pottery line that is imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity and the compassionate philosophy of Buddhism.

Artisan Nguyen Truong Son with his Buddha ceramic products.

Fingerprints and the “sleep” of the earth

For the old artisans in Bat Trang village, the technique of making loach is not strange, but now not many people do it because of the convenience of electronic turntables and mass production lines for high productivity. Be chach is a manual method, with low productivity, so it has long been no longer favored by the villagers.

Be chach is the way to roll clay blocks into elongated shapes like loach fish, then "be" - stack them on top of each other and knead them to create adhesion into a block until they form the desired shape of the artisan. To have a perfect be chach pottery product, the most important step is the kneading (kneading) of the clay. The clay must be a type of clay with high plasticity, smooth and treated with all impurities, then cut into small pieces, kneaded carefully to remove air bubbles and grit to avoid explosions, blistering or damage to the structure of the product. Next, the craftsman rolls the loach into small, even strips until the clay reaches plasticity, without breaking, then kneads it into blocks according to the desired size and shape.

Unlike hand-polished ceramics that produce smooth, even surfaces, beech ceramics retain fingerprints from the force of the fingers, creating concave and convex shapes on the surface of the product. This is the mark of the artisan, a characteristic of beech ceramics.

During the process of making loach, the worker needs to feel the "sleep" of the soil, that is, the plasticity of the soil to avoid technical errors such as cracking and warping. "To know the "sleep" of the soil, the worker has only one way: to contact the soil every day and feel if the soil has reached the adhesion to keep its shape during the shaping process... A person with many years of experience is a person who understands the soil" - artisan Nguyen Truong Son shared.

After the loach is the drying, glazing and firing of the product. The long-standing secret of Bat Trang people is “First bone, second skin, third kiln”. Accordingly, “bone” is the quality of the soil and the way to shape the product; “skin” is the glaze color and decorative patterns; “kiln” refers to the firing technique at different temperatures to create a perfect product.

The unpredictable changes of fire determine the shape and color of the glaze of beige pottery. Many products when coming out of the kiln will have a change in shape, at first glance it seems to be sagging and warped, but when looking closely, you can see the sophistication in these somewhat rustic products. Due to the different arrangement positions in the kiln, when the kiln is removed, the color of the beige pottery products is not the same. Therefore, another highlight of beige pottery is the spontaneous fire-changing glaze color. Also because of the strict requirements, requiring high skills and thinking, each worker can only make 3-5 beige pottery products per day, while if produced on a pouring mold line, the output can be 10 times higher.

In Bat Trang, artisan Nguyen Truong Son is a pioneer in creating beige ceramic products with variations in both shape and glaze color. Despite facing many doubts from his family, Son still resolutely follows his own path, because he always seeks beauty from imperfections according to Buddhist concepts.

In search of philosophy for pottery

Born and raised in Bat Trang, since childhood, artisan Nguyen Truong Son (40 years old) was taught by his father how to mold animals, was assigned to look after the yard where products were dried or to watch the kiln... Those things were ingrained in his blood, but when he grew up, Son chose to escape like many other young people in Bat Trang. Son said that it was the years 1990 - 2000, Bat Trang was then an undeveloped craft village, the roads were muddy, the environment was polluted, the products were monotonous, low quality so the prices were very cheap. Unsecured income, living all year round only knowing about soil and kilns made the young people of that time find every way to escape to change their lives. But then, quickly grasping the market trends and changing the production method, each family in Bat Trang searched for product designs, oriented their own style and consumption market, thanks to that, the craft village became vibrant again. The children of the village, even though they have jobs outside, also return to develop the pottery profession with their families.

Before asserting himself with the Be Chach ceramic line, Nguyen Truong Son was known to the market for his fire-glazed ceramic products - a handmade ceramic line with a slightly rough glaze layer like pepper sprinkled on the surface of the product. However, Son still wanted to find a ceramic line that was imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity and had its own philosophy. After struggling for a while, Son decided to put everything aside to walk across Vietnam with a friend, from Ha Giang to Ca Mau within 75 days (from August 10 to October 24, 2022), on a distance of about 2,500km. For most of the journey, Son and his friend did not use any money. All living expenses and accommodation on the road were thanks to the kindness of the people.

Sharing about his journey as a practitioner, Son said that as a Buddhist, Son believes that Buddha (the Vietnamese way of talking about Buddha) is always around us. He always appears in each person in a certain situation. When he realized the compassion and joy of Buddhism, Son wanted to bring that philosophy and thought into his products and wrap it up in the concept of Buddhism - Buddhist thought according to Vietnamese culture. Buddha has been attached to the subconscious of Vietnamese people for a long time. Returning after a trip across Vietnam, Son found the philosophy for his own ceramic line called Buddha ceramic. With this brand, Nguyen Truong Son wishes to contribute to preserving traditional crafts, and each product, each customer will be a messenger spreading Vietnamese culture to the world .

Creative space - cultural dialogue arena

In the ceramic exhibition with the theme "Transformation - Appearance" taking place from April 26 to May 30 at the Ho Guom Cultural Information Center (No. 2 Le Thai To, Hoan Kiem District), the public of the capital had the opportunity to admire more than 100 be chac ceramic works and unique ceramic paintings by artisan Nguyen Truong Son. Throughout these works of art is the main idea of finding happiness from imperfect things. Many people were surprised by the cups and vases that at first glance seemed distorted as if they had been fired, or the ceramic paintings that seemed to be cracked but were gilded, creating lines and motifs with a unique beauty. Son's works vaguely depict images of Buddha, Mother Goddess religion, women, children of the highlands and lotus flowers imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity, which, as some visitors at the exhibition said, "could not be more Vietnamese".

Vice Chairman of the National Cultural Heritage Council Dang Van Bai said that thanks to mastering traditional craft secrets, combined with creativity, young artisans have turned heritage into goods with economic and intellectual value. “Thanks to such creative young people, traditional craft villages are empowered and live in contemporary life. That is the way for heritage to live in community life and artisans are the ones who contribute to the diversity of a creative city like Hanoi” - Dr. Dang Van Bai commented.

Sharing his plans for the future, artisan Nguyen Truong Son said that he will expand the scale of his workshop into a creative camp, where young artists will create artistic ceramic works, contributing to raising the value of traditional ceramics to a new level. The creative camp that Nguyen Truong Son cherishes promises to be an interesting creative space and a cultural dialogue forum for artists and those passionate about traditional culture.

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