Lombok Pottery Centre (LPC) is a collection of four cooperatives where the ultimate goal is to create a sustainable environment for the potters and the community. The potters of Lombok have come from a community in which living standard is low, and where illiteracy and infant mortality rates are high.

 

LPC as been working with the Sasak potters of Lombok, one of the poorest islands in Indonesia, since 1988. The project provides the potters with technical and marketing support, as well as running education, health and sanitation projects. The centre is currently working towards becoming self-sustaining, with the potters having direct control over decision-making and distribution
of profits.

The technique used by the Sasak people is one of the oldest ways of making pottery, and Lombok is one of the few places in the world where it has survived. Coils of clay are stacked on top of each other, pinched into shape, and then smoothed with a curved coconut husk. To seal the surface, the pot is then burnished by applying a paint-like mixture of finely sieved clay, and rubbing all over with a smooth stone. These stones, usually obsidian pebbles, are prized possessions handed down from mother to daughter.