206-224-9815
Email Address: PotteryTime@GMail.com  ~ Welcome to our site ~ Your journey begins by stepping up your landscape ideas with the beauty of handcrafted ceramic artwork. ~ Continue to explore and expand your views ~ Complete your style with greenery, that we can provide, that properly compliments a rich and enduring pottery setting.    One of our missions is to promote the appreciation and preservation of this one-of-a-kind traditional style handcrafted
Vietnamese ceramic artwork. The handcrafted pottery artwork found at this site is unique. No two
pots will ever - EVER look exactly the same. Each and every pot is a true work-of-art, not a "sterile and lifeless" mass
produced factory copy of uninspired grey clay. We offer you many shapes, styles, sizes and a vast variety of color themes. Find many of our styles on this web page, but for a complete understanding, please call us (206-224-9815) or email us (potterytime@gmail.com) today.
 Description of 16th century vase shown above.
This vase was fashioned after a 16th century original: The Le Trung Hung Dynasty (Canh Hung reigning years of 1740 thru 1786). This sacred vase is made with a unique engraving technique known of that era. The exterior is covered with a beautiful cracked glaze. The shape of the body is flat and has a thick mouth, short neck with puffy shoulders. The ceramic artisans who created this vase have skillfully carved into the shoulder area fig leafs and lions heads using a technique described as sharp and twisting. The hexagon shape of the vase displays carvings on all six sides. The many carvings on the vase tell a story with the main characters being dragons whose spirits interact with the clouds and rivers of that time. On the top three sides of the vase lid one will find even more dragon carvings. The cloud carvings are covered with an ivory white cracked glaze. This vase was used in the Imperial Palace of ancient Viet Nam for specific worship ceremonies.
This descriptive footnote is the display text found with the original vase at the the Vietnam National Museum of History. Reproduced from original images and text is courtesy of the Vietnam National Museum of History currently located in Hanoi, Vietnam  Old World craftmanship will attain new meaning when you see our pottery.
Each piece is meticulously
handcrafted and fired in a wood burning kiln for three days. Our unique high fired pottery radiates warmth and character. The kiln reaches a temperature of 2300 degrees (F) fusing the clay together so tight that it forms a super-strong non-porous surface. Water cannot penetrate our pots. Pottery Time pots withstand freezing temperatures. Your investment is secure for another reason: Our pottery will never stain or discolor.
 Original Store Sign and Logo *please note our same phone number is still used today and for years to come...
Seattle Times Press Excerpt, Reproduced with full permissions
FULL CREDITS (Fully Archived at URL listing below) Title: From Seattle, Preserving the Pottery Culture of Vietnam
Author: Colleen McBrinn, Seattle Street Beat, Local Reviews Walking into Pottery Time, just a mile southeast of Safeco Field, it's clear this is no garden center at some big-box store. (Updated Note: As of Mid 2009, Pottery Time has closed the 4th Ave South Street location)
From the glazed, statuesque clay pots towering over bright clay elephant figures to the elegant clay vases
nestled among uniquely detailed rustic pots, no two pieces are alike in this Vietnamese pottery store.
Women's tiny finger impressions decorate the lids of some pots, while elegantly random paint drips mark
others. Other pots are adorned with the indentation of a coin thrown into the wet clay and then removed with
a stick.
A sea of earth-beaten browns and greens and glazed cobalts, the store screams unique.
In the middle of it all is owner Paul Diep. As refugees in 1975, he and his 56 relatives came to the United States
when he was 19. The Danang native mopped floors and scrubbed toilets while managing to graduate from
Evergreen High School and then go on to Western Washington University.
Later he started (and still owns) Innovations in Green Unlimited, an interior plantscape company in Seattle.
In 1994, Diep returned to Vietnam to look into starting a pottery import business.
When he saw the stark poverty coupled with how hard the potters work, he said his "heart melted because of
both the struggle and the beauty." He vowed to make a difference.
Diep began his pottery import business in Seattle, where he buys from and helps to support individual potters
to improve their lives in Vietnam.
He brings several potters to the U.S. annually to teach the knowledge, color and style of pottery here so they
can return home and produce better products more efficiently. He also supports several charitable groups in
Vietnam, where he plans to build a school.
His sole mission is to help preserve the pottery culture of Vietnam. He worries that the art of pottery making is
dying, a result of many young villagers moving to the cities for work. He said his business helps to preserve the
art.
While Diep's prices are typically more expensive than those at the big-box stores, you can't get most of what
he's selling elsewhere. The prices reflect the quality and individuality of each piece, he says.
There's a wide price range. A hand-held rustic pot will run $10 to $15, a small rustic deck pot is $30 to $40,
and a large (5-foot high) glazed pot is around $500.
Diep also has a well-stocked sales corner and offers 10 percent discounts for first-time buyers.
Colleen McBrinn: 206-515-5655 or cmcbrinn@seattletimes.com
The Craft, an occasional feature in digs, profiles an artisan or craftsperson in the Puget Sound area.
Send us ideas at homegarden@seattletimes.com.
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
PICTURE TEXT / PICTURE CREDIT
Photographer: Tom Reese, Seattle Times
Seattle Times picture and text shown below:
"Surrounded by Vietnamese pottery in his Seattle business Pottery Time is Paul Diep. Diep uses his import
business to help support individual potters in Vietnam and to keep the art form alive."
URL active as of Nov 2009, Otherwise Search here on Paul Diep, Pottery Time http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20050528&slug=craft28 Seattle Times Photo taken by Tom Reese of our store display of pottery 
Behold the Seattle Space Needle in ceramic hard fired clear gloss glaze. At Pottery Time we can design ~ anything ~ you desire in ceramic form.... SEATTLE SPACE NEEDLE 
End of Pottery Time Information Home Page
Bye for Now,
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