Wood fired kiln, soon to be a distant memory?

Pottery fired in wood kiln has its particular charm, just like how a brick oven pizza smells and taste better than one cooked in an electric oven.  Wood-fired oven gives pizza an faint hint of smoke and a slightly charred crust, it also requires more skill and effort from the chef to create a delectable pizza.

Wood kiln pottery certainly won’t carry a hint of smoke. The distinguished part about wood kiln pottery is that it offers more individuality and character to both the glaze color and the clay body. It’s the reward of all those intensive labour and constant attendance for what can be days of work. The resulting product is a reticent and timeless hue of pottery.

Tending to the fire in a wood kiln calls for a seasoned artisan with considerable experience, patience and meticulousness. One of the most popular types of wood fired kiln is Noborigama kiln (or ascending kiln). They are built from firebrick, consisting of many consecutive chambers constructed on an uphill slope. The ceiling of these kiln needs to be rebuilt regularly due to damage from constant high heat. This kind of kiln is truly an invaluable treasure of pottery workshops.

Unfortunately in Vietnam, owning to urbanisation and industrial zone planning, some policies are established to relocate wood kiln workshops. Many a kiln owner are forced to demolish their wood kilns and replace them with the more compact and easier to maintain gas kiln.