Go comes from a family of artists and businessmen. His father, who married a Filipina from Vigan City, started the pottery business in 1922, which Go inherited in 1970 after his father’s death. One of his brothers is into the china-ware business in China.

According to Go, only a sister and he stayed put in the Philippines. His other siblings, four other sisters and five brothers have returned to China for good.

“We had a family reunion in 2000, which was a dragon year,” he said. His brother came to invite him to the reunion but he said he could not leave his large brood of 11 children. His brother even offered a comfortable life in China which he refused, saying “Nagdakkel ti pamilyak a mabati” (I have a very big family to leave here).

Ruby’s Pottery, a family heirloom

The potter’s wheel came from his Chinese father, Go Kay Kiat, from Fujian (Fukien) town in Ching Kang Shan Province in China. He also inherited the 50-meter long kiln from the original Go Kay Kiat factory.

When he ventured into the trade in 1970, all Go had on hand was P735 with which he paid laborers. His father also left him enough firewood to light the furnace and clay to feed it with enough jars.

Go started helping his father in 1961. His father taught him to handle the clay and the potter’s wheel that turned perfect ang, or jar in the Chinese Fukien language.

Today he is “transferring” the skill to his own son, Eduardo, now 46. Aside from Eduardo, seven other workers assist the national folk artist in the craft. They gather clay from a distant rice field, pile it in the factory, “slice the clay into blocks”; prepare it for the potter to handle. The curing, firing and loading and unloading of the oven is left to the workers, including loading finished products into a 40-foot carrier van.

Market outlets include malls and trade fairs. He proudly recalled getting orders from my hometown Lingayen, where bagoong and vinegar-making still thrive as traditional cottage industries. Our bucayo-makers also need the sturdy burnay to store molasses.

The national folk artist for pottery has also trained some of his workers the craft, but at 68, he still operates the potters’ wheel most of the time. His son Eduardo has his own potter’s wheel to attend to.

Go noted a down-trend in this traditional industry. He laments that malls now place less orders. If there are not enough tourists, there is not much walk-in sales. He said his usual market is made up of people who are into landscaping and interior decoration, but he still gets orders from contractors who often buy bricks, cobblestones and clay tiles. He also produces mattings for salt farms in the Ilocos coastal towns.

Nevertheless, according to Go, Vigan’s traditional pottery industry has withstood the hard times. Like the Ruby, burnay and damili will still shine for Bigueños. For as long as there are people interested in the local folk artists’ crafts, the pottery industry will continue to sustain Vigan potters as well as the ordinary burnay laborer. Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat

 Save as PDF