Potters at the kiln

LONG CONSIDERED Chiang Mai’s trendiest stretch, bustling Nimmanhaemin Road is home to several restaurants, bars, cafes and craft shops. 

One of the newest kids on the block – the community art space 11 Gallery – is the brainchild of veteran local potter Jirawong Wongtrangan and offers a wide selection of unique handcrafted ceramics and home furnishings that draw on the wonders of Mother Nature.

A graduate of Chiang Mai University’s Fine Arts Faculty, Jirawong is the owner and founder of InClay Studio Pottery and for the past seven years has been running workshops covering hand-building, throwing-wheel and raku pottery techniques as well as showcasing his art. 

Last year, Jirawong and two of his artist friends converted an old house into a modest gallery and shop and divided it up into two zones to stock the creations of six artists from Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Decorated very simply with wooden shelves, it offers mainly tableware and sculptures. 

Jirawong himself is famous for natural glaze techniques using bamboo and longan tree wood ash as well as rice straw and coffee grounds to create a palette of beige, green and dark brown. 

 Using mainly quality clay sourced in Chiang Mai and Lampang, the ceramist also uses soil to create different textured pattern. Coffee addicts will love his glazed dripper in dark brown, which pairs perfectly with white mugs boasting a line pattern, his teacups adorned with graphics, plates in natural shades and his textured Chinese teacups and bowls.

“Our shop is a space where our artist friends can showcase their creativity and we are becoming known for our tableware and sculptures,” he says.

Co-founder Nattawut “Big” Ruckprasit, who owns craft village Baan Kang Wat, presents a combination of ceramic and wooden crafts. His glazed tableware comes in odd shapes and is painted in blue and white. Shoppers will love the polka-dot mugs, small pots with a wood handle and a flower motif, white spoons, animal-inspired chopstick rests and bowls in different designs as well as his wooden trays, key rings and magnets. 

11 Gallery also has a range of colourful ceramic sculptures and flowerpots in elephant and African shapes plus hand-made postcards, notebooks, wood pencils and fabric totes bags.

 

 

TABLE TREATS

>>11 Gallery is on Nimmanhaemin Road Soi 11, Chiang Mai. It’s open Monday to Saturday from 11.30am to 8.30pm. 

>>Call (081) 785 1943 or visit the 11Gallery page on Facebook.