People
Portrait of the fire keeper at a Bat Trang kiln
In every firing there is one person rarely named: the kiln keeper. They read the fire with their eyes, their nose and a lifetime of experience.
Bat Trang
A pottery village on the Red River where ceramics have been made for generations and still set the rhythm of daily life.
Cultural context
Bat Trang is not a pottery museum. It is a working village, where kiln smoke, spinning wheels and yards full of drying clay are part of everyday life.
Walk slowly through the lanes and you will see a whole chain of skills: preparing clay, throwing, painting, glazing and firing. Each stage carries its own knowledge, passed on by hand and by eye more than in writing.
Stories from Bat Trang
Craft villages
Reading Bat Trang pottery village through clay, fire and glaze
Bat Trang is more than a place to buy ceramics. Walk its lanes slowly and you can read a whole body of knowledge about clay, fire and glaze, passed down by hand over generations.