I tried: A pottery workshop

Pottery is one of the oldest traditional crafts in Vietnam. Archeological findings show that Vietnamese people have been involved in making ceramic and porcelain items as early as 10,000 years ago, when, during the Ly dynasty (1010-1224), ceramic pieces were typically glazed with a distinctive brown or blue glaze.

Nha Gom Chi's gorgeous selection of ceramics are often reflective of ancient glazing styles.

Vietnamese families continue to  treasure their porcelain and ceramic items within the home, with minimalist and Japanese-inspired styles being popular in recent years.

Nowadays, the famous village of Bat Trang, located fifteen kilometres from the heart of Hanoi, is still preserving the traditional craft of pottery, and it is a thriving hub of activity in the spring and summer, with local tour groups looking to try their hand at one of South East Asia's oldest crafts.

A local pottery workshop and ceramic retailer popped up on my Facebook feed recently, offering a full Saturday afternoon of learning how to throw and shape clay on a wheel - I decided I had to get involved.

The class started off with a short tour of the workshop and an overview of the family's history in clay-sculpting and pottery making. The friendly husband and wife proprietors explained that the family had been in the business for over 100 years, the family business originally located in Bat Trang village.

Glazing completed, time to decorate.

A total of nine of us eager and multi-national students sat down to observe our teacher demonstrate the art of glazing, something that definitely looks easier than it is. Each of us took a turn in dipping a terracotta plate into the glazing liquid and allowed it to drip as demonstrated, some of us luckier than others with the result of the quickly-drying glaze. 

We then applied shades of deep indigo and cerulean pigment next, some of us choosing to first carve nature-inspired designs onto the newly glazed plate with various knives and tools. Others (me, I'll be honest here) hoping to look effortlessly talented by bumbling through an abstract-esque design and praying that the thing would look a little more refined once the it had been through the firing process in the kiln and the colours of the paint had intensified.

Our teacher: The natural.

Next, our teacher showed us to the main event, throwing the clay on a spinning wheel. He demonstrated the correct way to shape the clay and definitely made it look easy with his confident hands and his skilful spinning of the wheel to keep a consistent speed.
 The workshop offered us either the electric wheel with a foot-pedal or the more traditional (read: backbreaking) manual wheels.


As we all sat down to our wheels and began flicking clay across the room and regretting our clothing choices (new jeans were a no-no, so I discovered), another instructor with delightfully broken english began guiding each of us, shouting "NO" or "OKAY" intermittently depending on how badly we were doing.

Not pictured: "NO NO NO..... Okay?"

As he approached my burgeoning bowl-like blob (see below that I selfishly claimed the automatic wheel out of sheer laziness) and began guiding my hands I couldn't restrain my desire to give my best  rendition of "Unchained Melody" from the famous Ghost scene, but I'm sad to say that nobody in my class got the reference.

The first of many blobs of clay on my outfit struck at about the 2 minute mark.

Looking around at my classmates I could see that everyone was truly enjoying the process, with a really mixed group of locals and expats, couples and singles and people of different ages. Patrick-Swayze scene flashbacks or not, everyone was visibly loving the process of making something by hand, and as my bowl began to take shape I started to fall in love with the craft like I'm sure many before me also had. 

Also not pictured: Me mercilessly hogging the automatic wheel for nearly 30 minutes.

Surrounded by beautiful home made ceramic wares and with my right-hand-man trying his luck at an ashtray beside me (though he doesn't smoke?!), it was easy to feel inspired by the many centuries of Vietnamese ceramic styles that had been passed down for generations. I felt giddy with excitement at the thought of breakfasts served in my own hand-crafted ceramic bowl, and as it began to take shape my giddiness caused it to topple.

Supported by my classmates to try again, I didn't let my disappointment get to me and soon I had finished another bowl from scratch, then a plate, then a cup. I even let others use the electric wheel and opted for my own muscle-motored clay-throwing experience. Pretty soon all of us had created a small selection of pieces that were to be put aside and 'fired' in the next week. 

Different levels of confidence/sheer panic went into these works.

We stuck around a little while longer chatting to the other students and browsing some of the beautiful items for sale in the workshop. Though the proprietors' English was still developing, we felt there was no miscommunications and the additional staff helped with any major translations.

The total price for the workshop was 330,000vnd each (about $14USD) and for the fun we had, plus our painted plate and two of our handmade goodies that had been glazed for us and were ready to be picked up the following week, it was definitely worth it. I discovered on collection day that only one of my creations hadn't survived the firing process and had exploded out of pure shame in the kiln. Oh well.

Our new collection deserved its very own place upon the bookshelf: 

Breakfast bowls galore!

Nha Gom Chi is located at 43 Van Kiep street, just a 10 minute taxi ride from either the tourist quarter or Xuan Dieu area. They offer workshops every second Saturday, be sure to message them in advance to reserve your spot! Children receive a 30% discount.

If you're a Hanoi local or a traveller in town, contact Nha Gom Chi here for information on their upcoming workshops - I can guarantee you'll not be disappointed!