Hidden in the Western side of the country, Thow Kwang Pottery Jungle still carries a slice of rural Singapore. Wherever you are in the world, you might have already seen those white ceramic pieces with beautiful paintings of Chinese mythical characters or landscapes in blue and other subtle colors.
Hidden in the Western side of the country, Thow Kwang Pottery Jungle still carries a slice of rural Singapore. Wherever you are in the world, you might have already seen those white ceramic pieces with beautiful paintings of Chinese mythical characters or landscapes in blue and other subtle colors. Well, I have seen some at my own house in India, probably bought from the Chinese merchants. Between the 1940s and 1970s, there were many dragon kilns, operating in Singapore, to produce such clay cups and vases. With fading demand, currently, there is only one, surviving in Lorong Tawas since 1965.
Tucked inside some dense greenery, this pottery studio is a little hard to find. The owners divided the huge area into multiple cascading sections of shops and workshops. Thousands of ceramic wares are all stacked up for sale. They also arrange classes for 'wanna be' pottery artists and kids. The last operating dragon kiln is fired only a few times a year. Every time it produces around 4000 ceramic wares.
Wondering, what's a 'dragon kiln'? It is a brick-built long chamber, constructed on a slope where all clay pieces to be fired are placed. Scroll down to find more on the kiln.
A young apprentice, busy making her clay stuff
A miniature kiln with a detailed description behind it
The side view of actual Kiln, built in the 1940s
Inside the Kiln
The family stored thousands of age-old art pieces, made by their last three generations
Colour indicators for the artists
Such lively expressions, created on the ceramic statues
A master artist, working on an electric pottery wheel