About the craft village that 'turns' clay into 'talking' animals on the eve of Tet

TPO – The traditional craft village making clay pigs, which is more than half a century old in Binh Duong, is more bustling in the days leading up to Tet At Ty 2025 with artisans diligently decorating and breathing life into blocks of clay…

TPO – The traditional craft village making clay pigs, which is more than half a century old in Binh Duong, is more bustling in the days leading up to Tet At Ty 2025 with artisans diligently decorating and breathing life into blocks of clay…

The clay pig craft village in Lai Thieu (Thuan An city, Binh Duong province) was established more than half a century ago. Up to now, although the number of households following the profession has decreased, the traditional beauty of the craft village is still preserved intact. Households who stick to the profession are still diligently making piggy banks.

From available clay materials and skillful hands, artisans have created cute and adorable piggy banks, dragons, goldfish, doraemon, swans, doves, buffaloes... toys associated with the childhood of many generations.

The process of making clay pigs involves many stages, with many households participating. Some households specialize in providing clay, others are responsible for molding and firing the pigs, and finally, there are households that decorate and finish the product.

Mr. Truong Long, an artisan with many years of experience in making clay pigs in Lai Thieu ward, said that to turn a lump of clay into a model of a “talking” animal, the creator must have a message. Some animals must follow a model, but it depends on the aesthetic of each artisan to create a product with unique and special characteristics.

According to Mr. Long, in order to promptly deliver large orders to customers in the Central Highlands and Western provinces, his family has sped up the progress in recent days, but still has to ensure quality to maintain reputation.

Ms. Phuong Lan, representative of a piggy bank facility in Lai Thieu Ward, said that a raw product costs about 20,000 VND to 30,000 VND depending on the type. After polishing and beautifying, the product is sold for 50,000-100,000 VND/product. Although the price difference has doubled, the profit is very modest, because it has to pay for labor, transportation, painting, etc.

To turn lumps of clay into objects with "soul" depends on the skillful hands of the artisan.

The completed piggy banks are put into plastic bags.

Mr. Trung Tam, an artisan and also the owner of a long-standing traditional piggy bank establishment in Lai Thieu ward, said that although piggy banks are the main products, establishments try to create different mascots for each year. Creating a mascot for each year is not difficult, but getting people to buy and bring it home to put in their homes is not simple, requiring high aesthetics in every detail.

According to Mr. Tam, the owner of a piggy bank in Lai Thieu craft village, the difficulty of traditional craft villages is that clay resources are scarce. Traditional production requires burning wood, so it is difficult to avoid environmental pollution. Therefore, production facilities must constantly move kilns out of urban areas.

“The local government supports loans to develop and preserve traditional crafts, and supports brand building so that traditional products can reach a wider market,” said Mr. Tam.

The piggy banks are carefully put into the plastic press.

The completed piggy bank is loaded onto a truck for transport to the business premises.

In the days leading up to Lunar New Year 2025, households making piggy banks are bustling and busy to promptly supply products to the market.

Huong Chi

Source: https://tienphong.vn/ve-lang-nghe-bien-dat-set-thanh-nhung-con-vat-biet-noi-ngay-giap-tet-post1707224.tpo