Johor - Aw Pottery

Aw Pottery was once a “must-see” site for visitors to Johor and motorists travelling the Ayer Hitam-Johor Baru old trunk road. Among its famous visitors were the royalty, second Prime Minister the late Tunku Abdul Razak and Singapore’s former premier Lee Kuan Yew. The pictures of visiting dignitaries were framed and hanged on the walls in the mini museum which houses limited and exclusively made pottery pieces. During its heydays, the showroom-cum-factory received more than 20 buses ferrying local and foreign visitors daily and cars from other states. Arguably the most colourful outdoor toilet in the country. “The number of visitors who come now is much, much smaller than what we used to get,” said Aw Pottery manager Wong Wan in an interview recently. He said long school holidays were the busiest times as many schools in Johor and some from Singapore made their field trips here. Wong said that in the old days, the showroom-cum-factory was the only place in the Ayer Hitam area where Japanese and Caucasian tourists were found.

The main attraction at the place is the 48.7m dragon kiln built in the 1950s, the only one in Malaysia and among the few left in South-East Asia. The landscaped garden provides visitors with various ideas on how to decorate their own gardens. However, since 1980, it has not been put to use and during the interview, the kiln was blocked from view with stacks of pottery. “Another attraction here is the outdoor toilet decorated with colourful broken ceramic pieces and probably the only one in the country,” he said. Wong said perhaps this was the most photographed toilet in Malaysia and it has been featured in several local and foreign publications. However, he said since the opening of the North-South Expressway in 1993, most motorists had opted for the highway, thus bypassing the once popular stop.

Wong said most of the visitors now were pottery traders, who supplied the ware to other retailers and hobbyists who were into DIY gardening. He said others include landscaping service providers and motorists passing the old trunk road or making a detour at the Machap intersection. “Customers say that our products are much cheaper than those sold in Ayer Hitam town which is about 5km from here,” said Wong. Customers have a wide selection of pottery to choose from at Aw Pottery. He said new customers were quite surprise to see a wide choice of pottery available at the showroom and many had returned and become regulars. Aw Pottery was founded 52 years ago by Aw Eng Kuang as the place was suitable for pottery-making because of ample reserves of kaolin clay in the area. Apart from marketing its products locally, the Machap factory also exported the pottery to the United States and European countries although the number had been reduced.

Now, export activities come under its China subsidiary which has two factories – Yixing Oushi Ceramic Co Ltd in Jianshu and Guangdong Chaoan Aw Ceramic Craft Co Ltd in Guangdong. “We can’t compete with China in the export market, so our Machap factory caters to the local and Singaporean markets,” Wong said. Apart from buying the finished products ranging from vases, dinnerware to flower pots, visitors can have a first-hand look at how potteries are made. Visitors can either tour the factory area on their own or can ask Wong or his staff to guide them and explain the production process. Customers can choose to buy flawless or first-grade items with normal pricing or those with minor defects or second-grade items which are cheaper. Big clay flower pots, urns and water containers imported from China are also available here and these are the hot selling items among landscape companies.

The company is willing to deliver these big items for individual buyers provided they could fork out extra money for toll charges and transportation. The landscaped garden at the entrance of the showroom decorated with aquatic plants and fountains provides ideas to prospective buyers. Aw Pottery is located at No. 13, Kampung Machap and opens from 8am to 5pm daily except on the first three days of Lunar New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri. For details call 07-7541480/1476 or e-mail: awpottri@time.net.my.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/3/6/southneast/13518472&sec=southneast