Most Bat Trang residents work in some aspect of the ceramics industry. James Hicks

The kilns of the Red River Delta have been hot for the better part of 500 years. In the 1400s and 1500s, ships carrying wares from the Delta made their way throughout Southeast Asia. Traders in caravans sold painted platters and shapely vases probably as far west as the shores of the Mediterranean.

In the past, the village of Bat Trang, near Hanoi, produced bricks of such quality that folk poetry mentioned them by name. After centuries of diminished output, Bat Trang once again flourishes as the node of a far-flung trading network. Using modern technology—yet never abandoning traditional techniques—Bat Trang’s potters make tableware for Japan, religious figurines for Taiwan and garden ceramics for North American nurseries.