Sasak Pottery: Lombok's Hand-Shaped Heritage

Long before Lombok became a destination, its villages were making pottery. For the Sasak, the island's main people, it is a craft handed down 'turun temurun', from generation to generation, and it is still largely the work of women, for whom it is often an essential source of income.

The technique is wonderfully simple. Local clay is shaped by hand, without a wheel or with just a turntable, then built up and refined with a smooth stone held inside the pot and a wooden paddle tapped against the outside. The surface is polished, sometimes burnished to a soft sheen, and the pieces are fired in open bonfires of straw, wood and coconut husk, giving each one its warm, slightly uneven earthy colour.

Each pottery village has its own style. Banyumulek, in West Lombok, is the best known and the easiest to visit; Penujak, in Central Lombok, is famed for its traditional forms and decorative figures; and Masbagik, in East Lombok, produces large water jars and cooking pots. Watching the potters at work is a lovely way to discover rural Lombok, and the range, from water jars to lamps and tableware, is wide.

Buying directly from the villages helps keep the tradition alive and supports local families. Many pieces are designed to travel, and shops in Bali and on the Gili Islands also sell Lombok pottery.

From The Gili Beach Resort on Gili Trawangan, Lombok is a short boat ride away, an easy day out for anyone who loves craft and design.