Gốm Sài Gòn: Hands-on Pottery Workshop in a Peaceful Saigon Apartment Café

It’s safe to say that the first meal I enjoyed in Vietnam was a warm bowl of phở bò.

But what garnered my attention most goes beyond flavor — the Vietnamese-style pottery. Generally featuring a white background with blue symmetrical outlines, it is a simple yet rich cultural aesthetic I adore. This formed my first impression of Vietnamese ceramic kitchenware.

Later on, after moving to Saigon and starting a new life here, I began to collect many objects from well-known local ceramic brands such as Minh Long and enjoyed their elegant designs in my daily life.

Unfortunately, I broke a plate on a random morning while I was washing dishes. That made me think. Why not make my own pottery and use it every day? This led to me discovering Gốm Sài Gòn’s pottery workshop.

A quiet ceramics corner next to Lý Tự Trọng Street in District 1

Standing in front of 26 Lý Tự Trọng, it’s difficult to imagine there’s a pottery workshop cum apartment café inside this well-known hipster fashion block with a past life as a 100-year-old apartment block.

When you enter Gốm Sài Gòn, you’re instantly isolated from all the hustle outside. What greets you is a calm mind and relief from unforgiving heat. The spacious hall exhibits all kinds of pottery collections — a myriad of teapots, vases, mugs, and even a clay go chess set displayed under the window breeze and soft, reflected natural lighting from an adjacent building.

Gốm Sài Gòn is more like a museum than an ordinary coffee shop with a pottery studio attached.

There are seats for drinks right beside the merchandise, and the right side of the hall is an area for pottery workshops for about eight to ten people.

Feel free to discuss your designs with the friendly instructors who will then break down the steps for you to shape your own design. At first, I innocently thought everything would be quick and easy since I only wanted to make a “simple” salad bowl with a petal edge.

I soon discovered that pottery isn’t as easy as it seems.

Make it your way with a hands-on pottery workshop at Gốm Sài Gòn

Then, pinch and turn the round ball (“pinch pot” technique) to create a hole in the middle. I tried my best to maintain even pressure as I pinched, while expanding the clay into the salad bowl size and rounded the bottom at the same time. It’s harder than I imagined.

Pinching too hard can lead to paper-thin clay and crack. I aimed to make it even all over while patching up the surface by using a bit of water to smoothen everything at the same time.

That was probably the biggest bottleneck when I was making pottery. I naively imagined that claymaking would be effortless like in a Youtube video. I.e. a magic finger gets the job done in just a few minutes. It ended up taking me nearly an hour to make a “perfect” bowl. (Laughs)

For the next step, I used a sponge to make the surface smoother. Before moving my work to the pottery wheel, I dried my creation for about 15 minutes with a hair dryer. It’s now time to cut and incorporate flower patterns on the edge of the bowl by using a modeling tool while rotating the wheel. Finally, polish the surface using a wet sponge again like before.

While the main structure was drying, I made a base. Roll out some clay to the desired width and form it into a circle by scoring and wetting both ends and the points where they will be joined. Push them together gently. Last, but not least, attach this newly formed base under the bowl by utilizing the attach technique.

Once again, smoothen everything out with a little water and a sponge before drying.

As an optional step, you can paint your work of art or keep it minimalist. Your pottery piece is done, good job!

Reflective conclusion: It’s hard work behind the basic pottery pieces

As of May 2024, Gốm Sài Gòn’s pottery workshop costs VND450,000 per piece of work (not including drinks).

It’ll take you about three hours to shape the clay and another three weeks for Gốm Sài Gòn to complete the firing process. Once your piece is complete, delivery will be arranged. I can now understand why artists hold their works as treasures and would never sell their artwork cheaply like commercially produced goods.

Nonetheless, if making pottery isn’t your preferred type of activity, you can always stop by Gốm Sài Gòn to enjoy the peaceful ambiance and drinks while engaging in some ceramic-based retail therapy.