SAN JUAN, La Union – In this town, which has been made popular for being the surfing capital of the North, the art of pottery making, or “damili in the Iloko dialect, has drawn its own kind of followers.
At local pottery studios, like the Red Clay “Pagdamilian”, visitors have been discovering their artistic side while handling the dirt that they turn into mud, and into vessels which they could say they crafted on their own.
And for Dozen Baduyen, 53, owner of Red Clay “Pagdamilian”, it all started with an innocent request from one of his clients a few years back, asking if he could handle the clay, his curiosity piqued while watching their craftsmen mold the mud into jars, bowls, and cups.
“Mostly na reaksiyon ng mga turista ay sobrang saya nila dahil hindi nila inaasahan na bukod sa experience nila ay kaya nilang gumawa ng kanilang mga sariling pot, (Most of the tourists’ reaction was they really had fun because they did not expect that, apart from their experience, they can make their own pots,” Baduyen said.
According to him, “damili” has often “released some hidden artistic fervor” in customers, who have tried their hand at pottery making.
And since then, such “hands-on” experience has drawn a steady stream of visitors, who get to mold the clay the traditional way, and eventually bring them home as their own personal souvenirs.
The hands-on experience started in 2015 with on-the-spot pottery making lessons from local artisans.
“Our visitors can apply their creativity as they want it, because they can design it according to their own preference or taste. One can also take home the end-product once it dries out. This is a perfect souvenir made by tourists themselves,” Baduyen explained.
“Damili” is an Ilokano term for molding clay into creative arts and crafts specially planting decorative purposes, storage of food, dry goods and waterpot. It can also be made as a “palayok” and used for cooking, while ‘pagdamilian’ is a production processes area for clay pots.
Baduyen started his pottery business in 2001, which has become of the most famous, and most visited clay pottery making shops in Barangay Taboc here.
“Hindi ko naman plano ang pottery business at nangyari lang dahil ito ang nakita kong livelihood sa lugar namin na puwedeng pagkakakitaan hanggang sa naging passion ko na ito, (I did not plan the pottery business and it just happened because this is the livelihood I saw in our area that could be used to earn money until it became my passion,” Baduyen said in an interview on Tuesday, July 28.
Television and movie stars have come to experience Red Clay’s “pagdamilian”, while some TV shows have also featured the shop.
Baduyen said he wanted to inspire his townmates, as well as his customers, to become creative, while helping to conserve and restore the San Juan's heritage of pottery.
And of course, he acknowledges that the “pagdamilian” would add to boosting tourism in the town, given the huge draw of surfing it already enjoys.