by Le Hung Vong
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Rhymes with gauze: Porcelian vases by Minh Long No 1 are displayed at the HCM City showroom. — VNS Photo Ngoc Hai. |
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HCM CITY—Viet Nam's leading fine porcelain maker Minh Long No 1 yesterday opened a new showroom in HCM City that displays exclusive products it has made over the last five years.
The 600sq.m showroom at the Minh Long Tower Building on 17 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street in HCM City's District 3 displays more than 2,000 porcelain wares includings bowls, dishes, teapots, jewellery, artworks and souvenirs.
The showroom also showcases national souvenirs chosen as gifts to foreign heads of State by the Vietnamese Government.
Also on display are exquisite and exclusive artistic works of which there are fewer than five copies each.
Ly Ngoc Minh, general director of the Binh Duong Province-based porcelain producer, said at the opening ceremony that each artisan was able to make only one to three copies of these works per year.
While porcelain industries in other countries bake their coloured works at 850OC, Minh Long No 1 employs a technique that does it at 1,250OC, he said.
"This high temperature helps to keep the colour on porcelain unchanged and renders details of the painting," said Minh.
Minh Long has produced fewer than 200 porcelain works of this type in the past five years, with fewer than 10 copies of each work. Some of them were single pieces.
The works cost between VND40 million (US$2,000) and 300 million ($15,000) a piece, Minh said.
"We're not targeting any profit from this series of Minh Long products. We want to show that we can do, and do even better, what other porcelain makers around the world produce," he added.
As an indication of the care that is taken in making these products, the company has been unable to fulfil orders submitted for these works during a three-day promotion more than two years ago.
"These artistic works are the pride of not only Minh Long No 1, but also of Binh Duong Province's porcelain industry as well," he said.
Family tradition
Minh Long No 1 was founded in 1970 by Minh, whose family had been involved with the ceramic trade for generations.
Combining his passion for porcelain with the knowledge and experience of his ancestors, Minh dedicated his life to studying firing techniques and composition and spending time designing a unique style for Minh Long's products.
The company, which has a 120,000sq.m factory in Binh Duong's Thuan An District, is the first company in the country's porcelain industry to use a gas-fueled kiln for its production lines.
Minh Long's porcelain products, which have won over many connoisseurs and discriminating buyers, have been exported to the US, Europe and other Asian countries. — VNS