Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery

Pham Anh Dao is the 19th generation descendant of Pham Ngu Chi’s family, who has a long tradition of crafting pottery products in Bat Trang village, Gia Lam district in Hanoi.
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 1Pham Anh Dao is the 19th generation descendant of Pham Ngu Chi’s family, who has a long tradition of crafting pottery products in Bat Trang village, Gia Lam district in Hanoi (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 2All artisans in Bat Trang Village have admired Pham Anh Dao for his strong will to stick to traditional ceramic skills (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 3Villagers consider him as an active descendant of the handicraft village’s ancestors. He works to revive the traditional skills to create unique products while many households have applied industrial assembly lines for mass production. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 4His products are unique, none is similar to another. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 5He could sit for hours shaping clay, and making glazes in his own way. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 6Dao’s workshop is located in the middle of the old village. Visiting him, one may find him losing himself in his work. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 7All artisans in Bat Trang Village have admired Pham Anh Dao for his strong will to stick to traditional ceramic skills (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 8Born as a 1.5kg baby together with a twin brother, he was fairly weak and had to take lot of antibiotics, which resulted in an ear-impairment. He could not speak until he was seven and found it hard to study at school. At 17, he worked as a worker at Bat Trang Ceramic Factory, where he learned a lot of techniques. Within a year, he could do difficult tasks that had often been done by well-experienced workers. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 9He then decided to open his own workshop to create in his own way. While neighbours applied mass assembly lines to turn out thousands of products every day, he made only few hundred items every month. Yet his products were unique, none was similar to another. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 10Villagers consider him as an active descendant of the handicraft village’s ancestors. He works to revive the traditional skills to create unique products while many households have applied industrial assembly lines for mass production. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 11His first batches of pottery products looked so simple that his neighbours were doubt about his talent (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 12However, he still decides to open his own workshop to create in his own way (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 13While neighbours applied mass assembly lines to turn out thousands of products every day, he made only few hundred items every month. Yet his products were unique, none was similar to another. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 14Dao’s workshop is located in the middle of the old village. Visiting him, one may find him losing himself in his work. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 15While neighbours applied mass assembly lines to turn out thousands of products every day, he made only few hundred items every month. Yet his products were unique, none was similar to another. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 16Dao’s workshop is located in the middle of the old village. Visiting him, one may find him losing himself in his work. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 17Pham Anh Dao is the 19th generation descendant of Pham Ngu Chi’s family, who has a long tradition of crafting pottery products in Bat Trang village, Gia Lam district, Hanoi (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 18Dao has tried to make the brown flowery glaze of 11-14th century, the blue and white glaze of 15th century as well as crackleware of 17th century. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 19Pham Anh Dao's showroom in Bat Trang village (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 20Dao has tried to make the brown flowery glaze of 11-14th century, the blue and white glaze of 15th century as well as crackleware of 17th century. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 21Pham Anh Dao's product on display at the showroom (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 22Pham Anh Dao's product on display at the showroom  (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 23Pham Anh Dao is the 19th generation descendant of Pham Ngu Chi’s family, who has a long tradition of crafting pottery products in Bat Trang village, Gia Lam district, Hanoi (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 24Dao has tried to make the brown flowery glaze of 11-14th century, the blue and white glaze of 15th century as well as crackleware of 17th century. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Artisan strives for preserving traditional pottery ảnh 25Pham Anh Dao's product on display at the showroom (Photo: Vietnam+)
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