Kelantanese Woman Produces 80 Ceramic, Pottery Products

By Noor Bakhtiar Ahmad

KOTA BHARU, Sept 22 (Bernama) -- Growing up, Nur Syazwani Izyan Jefridin, 31, often watched her father, Jefridin Mat, 59, produce products from clay under their house. 

 That’s when she found her passion for pottery and ceramic-making.

"After completing my diploma in 2013, I decided to focus full time in this field.

"Currently, (my company) Belipot Craft Ceramic produces about 80 products, including door gifts for weddings such as egg containers and money pots as well as decorative items such as vases and lamps. Our most popular item is the ceramic burner," she told Bernama when met at Kampung Bunut Payong here recently.

 Nur Syazwani Izyan, or Onie as she is fondly known, said the main raw material which is terracotta clay is obtained from around Kota Bharu and the ceramics are produced in a workshop near her family's residence.

The Diploma in Management holder from Managament and Science University (MSU) Kota Bharu said the process of producing clay-based products requires several stages starting with liquid clay being put into molds.

She said the process will be repeated several times according to the desired thickness.

"After a few hours, the product will be removed from the mold and the joining and finishing process will be done. The product will dry after two or three days.

"The dry products will be arranged and then fired in a kiln for seven hours at a temperature of 950 degrees Celsius. On average, each product will take four days to complete," said Nur Syazwani Izyan, who is assisted by a worker.

According to her, Belipot Craft Ceramic produces more than 2,000 various products using about 500 kilogrammes of clay per month. The prices start from RM1.50 to RM85 depending on the size and type of product.

"Ninety per cent of the products are sold online while the rest through our participation in the handicraft programmes. We also have customers who purchased directly from our workshop," she said.

Nur Syazwani Izyan admits that many people still do not know that ceramic products are also actively produced in Kelantan.  

"We were once asked to produce pottery products such ‘labu sayong’ which is originated from Perak, but we did not do it because we wanted the Belipot Craft Ceramic to have its own identity. Every product produced here is made based on my ideas and also customer requests, so far Alhamdulillah they are generally satisfied with the quality of the items," she added.

-- BERNAMA