Hand painting bowls in one of the Ceramic Village's workshops
Previous pages have shown something of the ways of selling to be seen on the streets of Vietnam. This page turns to a quite different method of attracting customers: by gathering dozens of artisans working on the same craft into a village where visitors can watch the production of items and then buy them. Hà Nội's craft villages produce, among other things, furniture, bamboo and wickerwork, cloth, embroidery, lacquer pictures and prints. The village of Bát Tràng specialises in ceramics: from bricks to fine figurines. It is situated some 15 kilometres from Hà Nội on the opposite bank of the Red River, and, being relatively accessible, visitors flock to its busy streets.
On the way to the village another craft is in evidence: making veneers - sheets here being sun-dried
One way of securing customers for the village is...
...to bring them by buffalo carriage out from Hà Nội
Left, two large vases measuring some two metres in height. Above, a collection of such vases at the entrance to the 'Nam Hà Earthenware and China' shop.
Below, the entrance to another shop, guarded by ceramic animals and two vases. Right, one of the large vases with coloured decoration. A small friendly alligator is at the front.
One of the big warehouses where ceramic items are painted, some of the huge stock is waiting on the racks behind
Friend Hân biting his lip wondering what he
can afford
The village's wares displayed at the Hà Nội night market
Customers discussing, and photographing, another similar display of ceramics at the night market in central Hà Nội
One of the village shops - Hân and Colin browsing - but who took the photo on my camera!
Here are some examples of the painted ceramics that are being made in the workshops which are shown above.
One of the ceramic pictures that can be seen hanging on the wall at the back of the shop just above
Two display plates - the characters mean as little to the Vietnamese as they do to most of us
Each of the painters, as seen at work in the pictures above, renders their subject individually...
...Here are two workers versions of the Ô Quan Chưởng Gate in the Old Quarter of Hà Nội
The ceramic pictures hanging in the shop; the one second from the left is enlarged above. The damp patches on the wall are not a sign of neglect, but of the rampant humidity that makes ceramic plaques more desirable than paper prints which would soon deteriorate
Ceramic products are packed in these wicker baskets...
...padded with hay and shipped off by a variety of means...
...this being the most alarming!
Trailers...
The next page
shows something of the variety of Hà Nội shops.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'Measuring Life'.
Or go to the contents Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section. of the Mosaic Section.
The last page had pictures of selling from ground level
Some ways that an Indian town's stallholders attract their customers
...guide to this site