Ceramics: Eye-catchers in your interior
- Posted on
- By Pot & Vaas
We are not always aware that a beautiful piece of earthenware doesn’t just appear like magic out of Nowheresville. Producing a glazed ceramic pot is an intensive, natural and manual process. We would like to give you a glimpse into the ceramic kitchen of our foreign workshops, where craftsmen make the most beautiful creations with love, patience and dedication.
Handmade ceramic vases: eyecatchers in your interior
They stand out in any interior and are real eye-catchers: handmade ceramic vases. Conical in shape, round or with a stand-up collar, in various sizes. Powerful in appearance, intense in colour and delicate in finish.
We are not always aware that a beautiful piece of earthenware doesn’t just appear like magic out of Nowheresville. Producing a glazed ceramic pot is an intensive, natural and manual process. We would like to give you a glimpse into the ceramic kitchen of our foreign workshops, where craftsmen make the most beautiful creations with love, patience and dedication, especially for Pot & Vaas.
Dedication and patience
Pot & Vaas works closely with artisans in the Far East who use three different types of clay as raw material. The different types of clay are mixed in large earth basins to ensure consistency in material and quality. Artisans fill moulds with the mixed clay to model the final product. When the pot has hardened and is taken out of the mould, it is left to rest for 24 hours and will shrink by around 19%. The pots are then given a protective undercoat and glazed for the first time. Glaze is a layer of glass and glass is actually sand to which natural pigments are added for colour formation. The glaze is a so-called reactive glaze, which means that the different shades go from light to dark in an ombre effect. After applying the glaze layer, the pots are left to dry again and then carefully stacked in the oven. At a temperature of 1200 degrees Celsius, the clay becomes red-hot and the glaze melts.
In Vietnam, pots are glazed in fire-stoked ovens, using local rubber wood as fuel. The high temperature at which the pots are baked ultimately ensures that they harden to such an extent that it becomes entirely impossible to make holes in it afterwards. That is why the pots come with a hole in the bottom as standard, so that you don’t need to worry about leaving them outside during winter.
One production cycle takes 10 days and is completed with plenty of patience and dedication.
More than just shopping
We regularly visit the workshops and factories to view new models and collections, nurture our ties with the artisans and have new samples made. Over the years, we have built up a pleasant, open collaboration with our suppliers.
The working conditions in the studio are well-organised and sustainability and CSR are pursued. For example, a Savings Scheme has been drawn up for the artisans’ children and they are given the opportunity to attend school. We do more than just shopping, and positively contribute to the living conditions of the local population.
The charm of handmade products
All our ceramic products are made by hand, which is why every pot or vase is unique. The glaze layer has several variations that give the pots an individual look and character. No two pots are exactly the same because the heat of the oven determine the colour. The oven is a long tunnel with different temperatures above, below, at the front and at the back. For example, blue can vary from deep dark blue to clear turquoise. The colour depends on the position of the pot in the oven. That is the charm of handmade products.
