Pagerjurang craftsmen put their mark

Pagerjurang craftsmen put their mark

Joko Sadewo, Contributor, Klaten, Central Java

An abundance of clay pottery, distinct techniques as well as the
presence of hundreds of ceramic craftsmen gives Pagerjurang
hamlet in Melikan village, Klaten the image of a bustling ceramic
center.

Ceramic has become the heart of the hamlet's activity with
over 170 out of 215 families relying on the business to earn a
living.

"Ceramic making is like an inheritance for us, something that
has been passed on from generation to generation," said craftsman
Sukonto, who also chairs the Anugrah Keramik, an association of
Pagerjurang ceramic craftsmen.

In production, the craftsmen use a unique device. Unlike other
ceramic craftsmen which use a flat potter's wheel, the hamlet's
craftsmen use a slanted one, especially to produce crafts with
maximum height of 30 centimeters. The wheel also rotates five
times faster than ordinary pottery wheels.

"The wheel we use here can produce a ceramic piece as thin as
0.3 centimeters while the ordinary ones can produce a centimeter
thick, at the thinnest," said Sukonto.

The downside is, the unique wheel cannot be used to create
large objects, he said.

The technique, according to another craftsman, Sihono, arrived
in the area with the influence of Muslim cleric Sunan Pandanaran,
who once spread Islamic teachings in the area during the early
16th century. According to local belief, it was Sunan who
requested local craftsmen to develop a device which enabled
craftswomen to sit in a modest way while creating ceramics,
without having to sit with their legs spread apart.

"But I don't know for sure whether it was Sunan Pandanaran who
created the device or the local craftsmen," Sihono said.

The hamlet is known for producing two kinds of ceramics,
traditional ones like water jugs and other household appliances
-- mostly to meet daily needs of traditional earthenware house
appliances in the hamlet and to serve local markets; and the so-
called terracotta ceramics. The terracotta pieces are mostly
decorative items like teapots, bowls, plates, vases and other
interior decorations.

The move towards modern, decorative ceramics took place in
1985 to meet customer demand and to compete in wider markets in
big cities and even abroad. Since then, buyers are no longer
solely from the hamlet or nearby towns like Surakarta and
Yogyakarta, but also from as far as Jakarta and Surabaya.

"It's true our products are less popular than Klampok (Central
Java) or Kasongan (Yogyakarta) ceramics, but we have already
entered Australia, Japan and the United States' markets," Sukonto
said.

The problem is, he said, Pagerjurang ceramics have to be
exported by second or even third parties, who take most of the
profit at the expense of local craftsmen.

"We have limited access to foreign markets," he said, citing a
lack of infrastructure, like proper roads, as one of the main
problems.

Another problem, he said, was no fixed telephone lines, which
could help immensely in further developing business.

"We've tried over and over to have fixed telephone lines laid
but to no avail," Sukonto said. He added that for rich craftsmen,
a fixed line was not big problem since they had cellular phones,
which were too expensive for small time craftsmen to buy.

With the absence of infrastructure like roads and telephone
lines, he said, it would be hard for the hamlet's craft business
to further develop or even compete with their counterparts in
Klampok and Kasongan.