Advice in the Javanese language is written in Javanese script and plastered on the brick wall at the home of Sayem, 57, who lives in the corner of Klipoh village, Karanganyar, Borobudur district, Magelang, Central Java.
Sayem sat on a small wooden chair in front of a pottery wheel. Her hands nimbly picked up a lump of clay and shaped it while she played the wheel. "If not for the grandmothers, who else would be willing to continue making pottery? Today, kids prefer making money fast. Work in the morning, get paid in the afternoon," Sayem said on Friday.
In addition to becoming independent, the woman, who has made pottery since she was 12, also did not want the heritage to be lost.
Her concern stems from the reluctance of most young people to make pottery. In fact, her only child chooses to sell meatballs at the Borobudur complex bus terminal. Her nephew prefers working in a factory.
Sayem said that she had inherited the pottery-making techniques from her mother, grandmother and great grandmother. In Klipoh, all potters are women. The men find clay, the raw material, and rice straw to fire the kilns.
Lamno, 73, Sayem’s husband, said that until the late 1990s, he had walked to the Pingit area in Semarang regency carrying his wife’s pottery on his shoulders so that it could be sold. Since then, he has ridden his bike to sell the pottery.
In the past, the clay was found easily around Klipoh. However, a lot of open fields have now been converted into residential areas. Consequently, the artisans are forced to buy clay from outside Magelang.
According to Sayem, most of the potters in Klipoh make a variety of items, including pots, bowls, mortars and kendil, clay water pots. Now, most of the orders are for kendil, which are used as containers for the placenta of a newly born baby.
"Two months ago, I receive an order for 300 kendil. I’ve made half of them already," Sayem added.
Small profit
Sayem and Lamno can survive on making pottery. Lamno said the profit was quite small. For example, to make 30 kendil, two sacks of clay at Rp 50,000 and a sack of straw for the kiln costing Rp 15,000 were needed. With a sales price of around Rp 3,000 each, revenue totaled Rp 90,000. This meant the profit was just Rp 25,000.
"It looks like it would be impossible to live on pottery. But in reality, I have been able to buy a plot of land from pottery," Lamno said, pointing out that his house was built on almost 500 square meters of land.
Although she was already old, Sayem claimed she had never asked for money from her now-married son. In addition to making kendil for her customers, Sayem also invites tourists to watch the pottery-making process. "Alhamdulillah, I get extra income from the guests," she said.
The same spirit and tenacity was also shown by Simah, 50. Even though she is elderly and sickly, the spirit of pottery making has not vanished. "Actually I suffer pain and soreness in my back and knees and it is difficult to move my knees," she said.
Simah has five children, some of whom are already working. However, she felt compelled to meet her own daily needs without relying on others.
"I would never ask. Let the children concentrate on taking care of their own families," she said.
She doesn’t make much from pottery. One mortar sells for just Rp 800. In one day, she can make 15-20 mortars, earning Rp 16,000 at most.
Juminah, 80, another potter, also did not want to stop making pottery although she had been asked to quit by her children and grandchildren.
Although she has six children, Jaminah still lives in her own home and meets her own needs independently.
Declining
Supoyo, head of the Bina Karya pottery group in Klipoh village, said the number of pottery artisans in the village located 3 kilometers west of Borobudur Temple was on the decline.
Of the 257 families, only 60-70 percent of them were still making pottery and that was mostly the parents. In fact, in the past every family in the village crafted pottery.
"In the past, the women were required to work. If you could not make pottery, it meant you could not do the necessary work," he said.
Based on that concept, women and men had equal footing and everyone could bring in money for the family. Now, Supoyo said, many men could make pottery. The changes had occurred because the pottery was sold to vendors.
A historian in the Borobudur district, Ariswara Sutomo, said it was believed that pottery had been made since Borobudur Temple was built, around 750 AD. Pottery, among other things, could be seen on the reliefs of Karmawibhangga, Lalitavistara and Jataka-Avadhana. A story that developed in the community states that pottery making was introduced by two brothers named Nyai Kundi and Nyai Kalipah.
A statue of two women was erected on the street entering the village. Pottery has long been a symbol of female independence in Klipoh. Life started changing when plastic products began to dominate household appliances in the 1980s. Because self-reliance has been longstanding, even in difficult conditions, many residents do not want to depend on others.
"Until now, many parents in Klipoh do not want to become laborers, construction workers or store attendants," he said. The purpose of Klipoh’s residents regarding work is not to get rich, they look at it as service. As one excerpt of Javanese script on the wall of her house says, Sayem is ready to accept the twists of life.
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