Pa & Suksun

Artisan Organization: Pa & Suksun

Country: Thailand

"My name is Pa, and my husband's name is Suksun. We work together at our small ceramic workshop in a province in northern Thailand. We have one son, who is 15 years old and attends a secondary school near our home.

"Suksun and I both studied ceramics in university. After graduation, we both worked at a ceramic factory. Suksun worked in the R&D department, and I was responsible for creating glazing recipes and techniques. However, in 2015, we were laid off due to the factory's inability to afford wage increases. This came as a shock to us, as we were left without income at a time when our child was only 6 years old.

"But we didn't give up. One day, my sister suggested that we use our talents in ceramics to start our own business. After careful consideration, Suksun and I decided to give it a try. We set up a small workshop in the garage of our house. We bought a small kiln and some necessary equipment and began producing small items like tea cups, coffee mugs, plates, and bowls. To our surprise, we were able to sell everything we made. Our customers gradually expanded from neighbors to people from different villages and provinces.

"It has been six years since we started our workshop, and although we both have experience in ceramics and have been working in the field for over a decade, it hasn't been an easy journey. In our own workshop, we have to handle every step of the production process ourselves. It's been challenging, from sourcing high-quality clay and shaping it to glazing and firing. It's a complex and time-consuming process that requires a lot of skill, experience, and patience. But we continue to work at it every day, honing our skills and improving our techniques.

"We are a small workshop with just one kiln, and we usually work together to make our products. We have had students from local schools visit our workshop to learn about ceramics, and we occasionally host tourists who are interested in our process.

"We take pride in sourcing and selecting our own clays to ensure their quality. Our ceramics are a blend of kaolin and sandy clay, with the kaolin coming from Lampang, known for its high-quality clay in Thailand, and the sandy clay sourced from around our community.

"Working with clay can be challenging, from preparing the soil and glazing to designing new products. Clays from different sources often have different characteristics, so we must constantly adjust our formulas to achieve the desired result. Our designs and colors are inspired by the natural beauty of our surroundings, such as trees, mountains, and the sky, as well as the rural way of life.

"In addition to running our ceramic workshop, we also farm rice. Like many rural Thai people, we grow rice for our own consumption and sell any excess. This only takes up about a month and a half of our time each year, so it doesn't interfere with our ceramic production.

"Another challenge is adapting to the ever-changing world, particularly in terms of technology and customer preferences. We strive to find ways to preserve the handmade quality of our ceramics while staying competitive in the online marketplace.

"Our dream is to have a showroom where we can showcase our products for tourists to appreciate. We are grateful to Novica for providing another potential avenue for our dreams to come true.""