Lifestyle pickle for jar makers

Lifestyle pickle for jar makers

Rattanakosin Pottery thrives on innovation, craftsmanship and variety as a tradition slowly fades

In modern Thailand and especially the single homes, townhouses and condos of Greater Bangkok, the big jars traditionally used to keep rainwater are now rarely seen.

Ms Palida (far left) says Rattanakosin has never stopped fine-tuning the business to cater to modern lifestyle. Apart from the traditional earthen water jars, the company' output today includes terracotta and ceramic pots, household ornaments and porcelain items.

Several jar makers, especially small-scale ones, have been wiped out by a wave of lifestyle changes. The surviving handful include Rattanakosin Pottery, the Ratchaburi-based maker of water jars glazed with dragon patterns.

According to Palida Prathompat, the second-generation owner and sales manager of Rattanakosin Pottery, the 70-year-old company has never stopped fine-tuning its production and business management to keep pace with consumers' changing lifestyles.

Rattanakosin's output now ranges from traditional earthen water jars to terracotta and ceramic pots, household ornaments and porcelain items kilned in high-temperature furnaces.

Over the years, the company's products have won accolades such as a One Tambon, One Product five-star rating and the Prime Minister's Export Award.

Rattanakosin also exports its pottery products to Europe, the US, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.

Ms Palida (far left) says Rattanakosin has never stopped fine-tuning the business to cater to modern lifestyle. Apart from the traditional earthen water jars, the company's output today includes terracotta and ceramic pots, household ornaments and porcelain items.

"Our products remain attractive to foreign buyers," said Ms Palida, 55. "Exports now contribute about half of the company's revenue. Buyers are mainly for garden design and park decorations."

The company stands apart with its diverse and unique handmade pottery items.

Famed for its fine clay, Ratchaburi province has long been a major producer of Chinese-style water jars distinguished by their dull brown glaze and patterns of flowers or dragons in mustard yellow. The jars, commonly used for dipping showers, used to be stacked by the hundreds onto barges and towed to Bangkok for sale.

Five years ago, Ratchaburi boasted 45 ceramic factories where craftsmen fashioned traditional water jars. The figure has shrunk to 35 as a result of the global economic slowdown and domestic lifestyle changes.

Rattanakosin has been spared much of the impact during the period, mainly owing to its expansion into terracotta and ceramics. It now runs four pottery factories in Ratchaburi, producing 10,000 pieces a month. It has a showroom on 10 rai of land that lets visitors observe the entire production process.

Despite a trend of state-of-the-art furnaces fuelled by liquefied petroleum gas, Rattanakosin still conserves the traditional method of using wood for fuel.

And despite stiffer competition from low-cost pottery from Vietnam and China, foreign buyers still buy the Thai products for their better quality and durability, Ms Palida said.

Boosted by strong exports, the company's sales rose by more than 50% in 2014.

"Despite Thai people's changing lifestyle and the world's migration to the digital age, we still believe the water jar remains favoured in Thai people's lifestyle, as the middle-income earners in the provinces and in rural areas still rely on jars to keep water," Ms Palida said.

"More importantly, we ourselves never stop applying innovations in production, and we're preparing to hand over our business to the third generation once he finishes his master's degree in ceramics engineering in England."

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