One path of ceramic art leads to Lai Thieu (Binh Duong, Vietnam)Clay Chronicles By Me

While northern Vietnam boasts the famous Bat Trang ceramic, the South also has three names that no pottery collectors can ignore. Lai Thieu is one of them. Lai Thieu pottery is simple and "gentle", if it were a person.

River in Lai Thieu with trees casting shadows on the river surface and a boat passing by — A gentle corner of Lai Thieu, Binh Duong

There's an online store on Instagram called Xland that sells really cool stuff. They sell small, practical yet quirky items: printed plastic ashtrays, lighters, self-sewn tote bags, and more. What makes them cool and quirky is the designs they print on their products and the way they explain the idea behind the prints, often a witty and profound quote that I love. For example, when advertising their tote bags, they wrote: "A "tote"-ally awesome tote." Isn't that great?

screenshot of advertising content of a store selling unique products — Xland's instagram store.

I later discovered that the prints on Xland's products were illustrations taken from Pinterest (no wonder they were so beautiful!). I didn't remember the artist's name (forgive me), but I came across them while looking for some funny pictures to hang on my wall to make it less empty.

Putting aside the issue of copyright infringement, which is absolutely serious, the owner of Xland had a clear vision for their products (actually, I think it maybe "his" or "her"). This was evident in their consistent product photography style and writing voice. The photos were eye-catching with neon reflections, and the advertising content was so good that I didn't hesitate to click "follow", even though I hadn't bought any of their products yet.

Because I was so fascinated by the personality they infused into their brand, I dreamed of one day creating something similar, both in terms of product creation and advertising direction. Of course, as I just now mention, I later found out that their prints were "borrowed". As for me, I always dreamed of printing my own paintings to sell. I needed a physical medium to spread my ideas and thoughts.

One beautiful day, which I don't remember exactly, my small business idea was turned upside down by AI technology. I am sure I was one of the pioneers in Vietnam to apply MidJourney to my daily work, although I didn't make a big annoucement about it on social like others. Open AI, MidJourney & Gemini were three great assistants that helped my work fly through 8 hours of office work. But at that time, I also realized the absurdity of painstakingly drawing pictures that no one could distinguish from MidJourney paintings.

Before, I needed a physical medium - an industrial one - to record my paintings - something that had a human touch. Now, AI is just as "human" as any human. Many people with no artistic sense, who have never sharpened a pencil with a knife, and who never practice drawing for more than 5 hours a day, also call themselves artists with the help of AI. Don't tell me that AI paintings are soulless, because that's like being jealous of a robot. AI paintings are becoming more and more sophisticated, with natural flaws and also full of personality. I was really confused by the question of existentialism.

Determined not to surrender to the rise of the robots, I decided to find something that they couldn't do yet, and of course, the fewer people who could do it, the better. At that time, I was immersed in the trend of growing plants indoors. Of course, to grow plants, you need to buy pots. And the pots had to be beautiful to match the plant, so plastic pots were absolutely unacceptable. The ceramic adventure began.

corner of the room with many tropical plants planted in pots next to each other — My plants are planted in old Japanese ceramic cups. I feel like the plants would feel sad if they were in plastic pots. So I sacrificed my drinking cups first.

I immediately recognized the potential of ceramics in my creative and business endeavors (whether it would be successful or not is another story). So I signed up for a ceramics course in Lai Thieu (Binh Duong); because it was the longest, farthest, most advertised and most expensive course. I don't believe in short-term workshops in Saigon. Haste makes waste. And to be honest, I was later disillusioned with the so-called "intensive ceramic course". Perhaps "intensive" for me had to be at a different level, after all I had a 4-year in art university, not to mention the first year I failed the exam and had to sharpen the skill as much as sword, and 7 years of experience in design and art-related work. I know that specialization goes hand in hand with time.

Back to the learning path, what is there to learn about ceramic art in Lai Thieu?

Lai Thieu is not just about fruit. Lai Thieu also has a peaceful ceramic village since Saigon ceramics fell out of favor. The South originally had 3 main ceramic production areas: Cay Mai ceramics (Saigon - Gia Dinh), Tan Van ceramics (Bien Hoa - Dong Nai) and Lai Thieu ceramics (Binh Duong). Later, Saigon ceramics declined, Cay Mai ceramic products because of their historical value are more collectible; giving way to Lai Thieu ceramics to dominate the household ceramics market.

Of the three types, Lai Thieu ceramics is the youngest and is considered the "child" of Bien Hoa ceramics, as it uses clay from the Lai Thieu region to create shapes using methods inherited from Bien Hoa ceramics. While Bien Hoa is fortunate to have good clay deposits and is also the birthplace of the Bien Hoa Vocational School (École Professionnelle de Bien Hoa) - considered the first ceramics school in Indochina and which has made strides in changing the face of Southern ceramics - it has a strong "identity". Lai Thieu ceramics, on the other hand, is originally a household item, so the decorative element is often overlooked, usually with simple village scenes painted on the inside and then covered with glaze. The quality of the ceramics is also not given much attention, so it does not have the same level of sophistication as other types of ceramics.

However, I still love Lai Thieu ceramics because of its simplicity, rusticity, and somewhat "countryside" feel. Creating beautiful products from good materials is already good, but creating interesting products from ordinary materials and methods is even more difficult. Perhaps one day, when I am "mature" enough in the profession, I will be confident in using low-quality materials and less meticulous methods to practice on my own products, as a challenge?

This is something I only learned after taking that "advanced" pottery course. To be honest, what I learned was how to shape ceramics using Bien Hoa clay, with a little bit of Lai Thieu decorative painting, traditional Southern style glazing, and using glazes from various sources, not just the traditional characteristic glazes.

Ceramic vase with blue glaze has a typical effect of Bien Hoa tradition — "Vert de Bienhoa" glaze - also known as the traditionally effective copper green glaze of Bien Hoa ceramics, has an international name. Image borrowed from the Internet.

ceramic glaze color palette — Color palette of glazes in my pottery class in Lai Thieu. It probably includes both traditional and modern glazes.

Alright, gather round for this tale of a so-called "advanced" pottery class that turned out not to be very advanced. Now, according to my highly sophisticated definition of "advanced," by the end of this course, students should be able to: how to mix glazes and create new glazes, how to control and operate kilns at different temperatures to produce different quality ceramic products, or at least know which kiln to buy because there are tons of electric and gas kiln types; and most importantly, students must be reminded over and over again that: the course is about learning the techniques to apply to their own skills, not learning the skills themselves, because skills cannot be acquired after 12 sessions. I suspect that the teacher knows this, but the lack of seperation of students at the beginning makes the curriculum messy because the teacher has to run around teaching basic things like holding a brush, using a knife, and so on. Perhaps someone reading this will think that I am a snobby know-it-all. No, I am just telling the truth. You can't put college students in the same class as kindergarteners, so I have to have an opinion.

Outdoor ceramic classroom space with green plants — Where I study ceramics is in Lai Thieu, Binh Duong.

On the plus side, the learning space is quite idyllic, with trees casting shadows on the ceramic products scattered all over the yard, in the true spirit of "creative chaos, not idle tidiness." There are rough stone tables where I can relax and enjoy a smoke without disturbing anyone during breaks.

On the downside, because it's so idyllic, everyone wants to wander around, especially when I'm trying to practice. It makes me feel like a lion in a zoo being pointed at and stared at. Worse still, some people even point their cameras at me, an invasion of privacy that deserves jail time. If only I had the claws of a lion, I swear I would make those people scream and run away.

What did I gain from the ceramic class in Lai Thieu?

My father often says he hates the "teaching to the converted" approach, rather than teaching to the uninitiated, because he believes that people with no knowledge need a different approach. And most of the pottery learning methods online, even on English-language sites, are a jumble for people who know nothing like I did at first. I came to the pottery class to learn the techniques, not the skills of decoration or shaping because I already had them; and I picked up enough knowledge to become someone who knows a little bit to continue self-studying. And I'm still practicing in the process of creating my own products.