Young creativity in Thanh Hà Pottery Village

Nguyễn Viết Lâm and Trần Thị Tuyết Nhung from Sơn Thúy pottery workshop are part of the younger generation who value traditional pottery in Thanh Hà, Hội An.

Not only do the two preserve the craft and the village, but they also research, innovate and create so that Thanh Hà pottery can keep up with other well-known pottery kilns in the country and conquer the tastes of modern customers.

Miss Tuyết Nhung-  from Sơn Thúy pottery workshop

Sơn Thúy pottery workshop welcomes a large number of visitors daily. Most visitors enjoy exploring the pottery-making points, creating their own products and visiting the pottery kilns in Thanh Hà village. Lâm and Nhung, who have been involved in the craft for a long time and have spent a lot of time interacting with and serving tourists, have seen both the good and bad aspects of Thanh Hà pottery, which they have worked hard to research in order to find solutions to change and develop Thanh Hà pottery.

Mr Viết Lâm- from Sơn Thúy pottery workshop

Nhung stated, “Thanh Hà pottery has difficulty competing with other famous pottery kilns in the country because the patterns are rough and not eye-catching, and the pottery is fragile, so it is not an attractive souvenir for tourists.” Therefore, their family is constantly looking for ways to overcome the limitations of Thanh Hà pottery.

Sơn Thúy pottery is the first and only establishment in Thanh Hà pottery village that uses enamel coatings.

Fortunately, Lâm's father, Mr. Sơn, was allowed by the city to go to Japan and study ceramic production and access modern production models. After returning, the family purchased an electric kiln and combined enameling to produce a more durable and appealing product. Based on traditional enamel techniques and learning enamel techniques from famous domestic ceramic kilns as well as Japanese enamel, Lâm and Nhung began to create enamel using raw materials from crushed mineral stone powder in ceramic-producing techniques.

However, all batches of pottery produced using the new technique were broken. Continuing their research, the two found the cause of thermal shock during the firing process, which was that the temperature increased too quickly, the product was not completely dry, and was still damp during the drying process, so they made the necessary adjustments to make the products more and more perfect.

Currently, Sơn Thúy pottery is the first and only establishment in Thanh Hà pottery village that uses enamel coatings. Products fired at approximately 1200 degrees Celsius for 12 hours become more solid, durable and eye-catching, such as vases, wine pots, teapots, cups, plates, bowls, etc., and are thus welcomed by tourists and sold at prices three to four times higher than traditional raw pottery.  

Sơn Thúy pottery from Thanh Hà village has been touring not only internal regions but also following tourists with lovely souvenirs bearing the cultural imprint of Hội An to international countries. Since then, the creative value of Thanh Hà pottery has been spread and created additional motivation for local youth to continue contributing and preserving the quintessence of the craft passed down by their ancestors.

The Center for Culture, Sports, Radio and Television of Hội An city