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Every piece of pottery carries the seal of its maker.

Bat Trang · a seven-hundred-year pottery village

vCraft takes you into the workshops of the craft village's households. Watch them work, scan the seal under a piece to see every step it went through, then order straight from the maker.

A day in Bat Trang

From kneading clay to opening the kiln, six steps that every piece goes through. The photos are general pictures of each step, not photos of any particular piece. Swipe sideways to follow each one.

  1. Pale yellow clay lumps heaped in a storeroom, a hand cart behind01

    Kneading

    The clay is filtered, rested and kneaded until every air bubble is gone.

  2. Two hands in leather finger guards shaping a white ceramic bowl on a potter's wheel02

    Throwing

    The clay goes on the wheel and the maker's hands pull it into shape.

  3. Nested unglazed pottery basins in the workshop, with more pottery stacked high behind them, waiting to dry03

    Drying

    It dries evenly in the shade so it won't crack in the kiln.

  4. A craftsman crouching and bending over, painting white pottery with a brush, next to a bucket of glaze04

    Painting

    Patterns are brushed on by hand with blue underglaze.

  5. A bright fire opening on a round sagger column, with more sagger columns standing behind it in the kiln05

    Firing

    The kiln climbs past 1,200°C. Only when it opens do you see how the glaze turned out.

  6. A row of large glazed jars with spouts, painted in blue with flowers and leaves, lined up straight06

    Out of the kiln

    Each piece is checked one by one and sealed underneath before it leaves the workshop.

The hands that keep the craft alive

Every household has its own story, its own glaze and its own way of shaping clay that nobody else shares.

See all artisans →

Which workshops are open?

Visit a workshop to see the wheel and the kiln for yourself. A jade dot means the workshop is welcoming visitors.

Open the village map

The village in numbers

News from the village