Find Out New Travel Points Of View

- Tom Otley And Laura Miserez

There’s something mesmerizing about watching a pot being hand-thrown on a wheel. A huge weight of wet clay is fashioned into a ball, thrown hard against the turntable and then, gradually, something more recognizable appears. The clay is centered, opened, drawn upwards to create sides and then trimmed using simple tools, but mostly the hands of the potter. The wheel’s speed is controlled by a foot pedal.

Eventually, a pot, bowl, dish or vase appears, still caked in the dark color of clay. It’s an ancient art – the earliest pots made this way date from thousands of years ago, and modern electric wheels aren’t very different from the ones used millennia ago when a foot kept the wheel spinning. It looks easy when done well, yet if you try it will likely result in a change of clothing.

Perhaps the most astonishing part is watching the artists at work, painting delicate flowers on a large ceramic plate, following patterns sometimes, or on other occasions merely being inspired by a pattern from a book. It’s a high-wire act – the pottery shop is full of “seconds” where the flaw would have to be pointed out to you.

I was watching potters at the Prempracha Collection, one of Thailand’s leading ceramics factories, where people come from far and wide to see the latest designs. The factory employs more than 100 people on premises just outside Chiang Mai and provides tableware for top-end restaurants, local private buyers and tourist gifts for visitors (shipping even the largest items home isn’t a problem).

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY