Thanh Ha Pottery Village

Pottery is not just a significant and traditional craft in Vietnam, but also an important means of livelihood. The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An is a famous example in this type of an establishment that aims at furthering tradition as well as employment. The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An is located in the Quang Nam Province in the Thanh Ha ward; Hoi An lies 3 Km to the east of it. The pottery village has a long historical legacy attached to it.
The tradition dated back to the time when the Nguyen Dynasty of Hue invited craftsmen from the Thanh Ha Pottery Village to fashion some decorative as well as useful articles for the palace. This one event gained them sufficient renown to last them a lifetime. Henceforth, the village began a Mandrain system of grading craftsmen according to their talent. The most talented held the ninth position. The pottery at the Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An are all manually crafted and are exported world over. The techniques that they use are unique from those prevalent in other provinces. The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An crafts decorative articles along with useful items like cups, jars, bowls and pots. The flower pots made here are particularly sought after.
The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An used clay mixing techniques, burning and baking time and heat modulations to bring out different colors like pink, pinkish-yellow, red, light brown and ink-black in the wares. The craftsmen also modulate all these aspects to achieve immense durability in their products. Aside of the regular articles, the Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An is also renowned for its bricks and tiles of various shapes and sizes. In fact its bricks and tiles are sourced out to the entire local as well as many foreign regions. It is the most trusted name for contractors engaged in tasks of renovation.

Kim Bong Carpentry Village

The carpentry village of Kim Bong belongs to the Cam Kim commune, just on the other side of Hoi An river. Take a boat trip on Thu Bon River to visit Thanh Ha & Kim Bong handicraft Villages. It is very convenient for tourists to visit and collect souvenirsin Kim Bong Village.
Kim Bong Carpentry Village was famous for earthenware that sold in many provinces in Central Vietnam. Their work on the head of columns, rafters, pillars, altars, tables, chairs and beds are incredible and masterpieces that anyone would admire and give praise to when they see it. Most of the architectural projects in Hoi An ancient town were constructed by the village natives from the heyday of Hoian as a commercial port. They were built by skillful carpenters and still valuable today.
The technique of Kim Bong carpenters is exceptional. The Kim Bong carpenters still keep their traditional alive. Carpentry Thanh Ha pottery villagers are doing the same work in the same way that their forefathers did in the past. In their clever and skillful hands, clay turn to pretty flower vases, tea pots, piggy banks, wine bottles, water jars, kettles, cooking pots or lovely birds, turtles, buffaloes, cats, ducks, etc. They also made and provided bricks, roof and floor bricks for old building in Hoian and the surrounding areas as well as overseas markets. Besides that, Kim Bong carpenters had built big trade ships helping to exchange easily transport goods everywhere.
Moreover you will have the possibility to visit the shipbuilding area where wooden fishing vessels are built using traditional techniques. Nowadays many old buildings in Hoian need repairing and restoring and Thanh Ha villagers are the only trusted contractors that can provide standardized bricks, roof and floor bricks exactly like those during the time when Hoian port town prospered.
Many of them turn to make fishing boats for fishermen all over Central Vietnam. Many are eager to repair and restore old building in town or made wooden statues, wood carved articles and traditional furniture to be sold and exported. The workshops today make hand crafted furniture and sculptures as well as a range of tempting souvenirs, some of which are exported a field as Europe and North America.