Pham Anh Dao loses himself in his work

Rare artisan

Pham Anh Dao was born into a family with a long tradition of pottery making. His father Pham Ngoc Huy was a famous ceramic artisan and engineer. Treated as a child with heavy doses of antibiotics left him with a hearing impairment. Dao could not speak until he was seven and found it hard to study at school.

After recognizing Dao's special feel for handmade ceramics, his father took him to visit pottery production households in the village and then to the Bat Trang Ceramics Factory where he started working at 17 in order to learn the craft. Within a short time, Dao was able to shape pottery and perform difficult tasks of highly experienced workers.

Pham Anh Dao's handmade pottery is considered a special product of Bat Trang Village

His father then decided to build a pottery kiln for Dao to satisfy his passion. At that time, few Bat Trang villagers, mostly the elderly, still made traditional pottery. Pham Anh Dao was the youngest. While neighbors applied mass assembly lines to turn out thousands of products a day, Pham made only few hundred a month, but each product was different.

His magic hands turned inanimate handfuls of clay into unique vases, flowerpots, and bowls. The works were not colorful and ornate but nonetheless emotive. His passion for preserving traditional handmade pottery made him a rarity in Bat Trang Village and he was recognized by the local authority.

After winning many awards at the age of 27 thanks to his rare talent, Pham Anh Dao was named a “Hanoi Artisan”, the youngest Bat Trang craft maker to be so honored.

Fame for old-style ceramics

In 2010, on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of the foundation of Thang Long, modern-day Hanoi, Pham Anh Dao successfully produced a pair of giant Tu Linh jars entirely crafted by hand according to traditional ceramic techniques. His wife said the total cost of the almost year-long project was more than VND250 million. “For good artisans, making large products is difficult, and is even more difficult making them by hand, as they must be shaped on the turntable, the rate of clay and amount of heat must be calculated to prevent them from exploding when being burned. In particular, the pair of jars were made with antique imitation crackle enamel. However, Pham Anh Dao conquered both the most difficult techniques,” she said.

Artisan Pham Anh Dao and his works

Nowadays, Bat Trang craft products have to compete with industrial ceramic products, but Pham’s Gom Dao craftwork factory has found a niche with its old-style patterns, textures, and blue colored crackle enamel. In addition to traditional designs, Pham Anh Dao also produces modern designs while adhering to the traditional production process of his ancestors.

With the development of social networks, handmade ceramic products, including Gom Dao, are increasingly favored by domestic and international tourists. Pham Anh Dao's products are now present in 63 provinces and cities across the country. Even when Covid-19 reduced people’s purchasing power and caused large inventories to amass in most industrial workshops in the village, Gom Dao still sold well and was considered unique.

Pham Anh Dao is an artist who dared to go against the flow and persisted with creating handmade ceramics

despite the many hardships and changes in the market.

Hoa Quynh