Banyumulek Pottery Village, Lombok Island | Nusa Tenggara

Banyumulek Pottery Village, Lombok Island is the centre for pottery where a variety of craft items such as clay pots, jugs and bottles can be found in this place.

Banyumulek is a village located in Kediri district, West Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Banyumulek is a center of pottery industry throughout Lombok Island since the 1990s, where 80% of the population is involved in the work.

When visiting Banyumulek Village, you will be greeted with a green gate that reads “Banyumulek Pottery Craft Center”. Uniquely, when stepping into the village area, you will see schools and government offices decorated with large pots on the wall fence. So that the impression of the village of pottery will be very thick felt. Simultaneously confirmed that Banyumulek Village is a pottery craft center.

Initially the type of pottery or ceramics produced is used for daily needs, such as a “gentong” or barrel, a pitcher, garbage cans and others. But over the course of time and the development of tourism on the island of Lombok, there is a shift value that is more directed to the element of decoration, in the sense that the pottery produced is used for decoration, such as decorating the garden or hotel room or home.
In the village of Banyumulek Lombok, making pottery is an ability that is passed down from generation to generation. The expertise is finally able to lift the village economy, even attract visitors to witness and shop pottery in this village.

Along the village road you will find many galleries and shops on both sides of the road. Make sure you are not confused to visit which gallery, because of the many galleries that stand in this village. But among the galleries you will find a large gallery. In the big gallery you can find various pottery with a more complete variant. Starting from the size, shape, color, decorative motifs, uniqueness, until a variety of functions. The pottery is of course the work of the pottery maker of Banyumulek Village. Some of them are flower vase, egg barrel, various forms of piggy bank, cas gepeng, sour carving sister, lamp shade, wall decoration, and so forth.

You can find a unique pottery product of Banyumulek village, namely Kendhil Maling or Thief Jugs. This one is quite unique, because it has a design and a different story from kendhil usually. It has a hole in the bottom. This hole is used to enter water into the jugs. Like a strange way of a thief, who does not use the usual path when going into a house. Uniquely, a special design on Kendhil Maling makes water not out of the hole when the jugs is put back.

The pottery of Banyumulek village has reached the international market. In this village, you can bring home the art with a varied price. Depending on the shape, size, decoration motifs, and difficulty level during the manufacturing process.
In addition to viewing the colorful artwork, you can also learn and participate in the process of making it. The craftsmen never use a measuring tool to determine the diameter of pottery. In addition, the tools used are fairly simple. Everything is done with heart.

The skill of the connoisseur of Banyumulek Village Lombok is apparently supported by the natural surroundings. Around the village, clay and water are raw materials, very easy to obtain. Similarly, the coloring material. The craftsmen usually use natural dye materials, such as acid seeds cooked first. But today, some craftsmen have also started using artificial coloring materials that can be obtained from neighboring villages.

In this tourist village, we can see first hand this pottery, starting from the beginning of making clay mixed with water, then stepping on the material that has been mixed, then the dough is in shape and burn it on the straw. If you want to learn the details of making pottery, you can visit some craftsmen to open courses for visitors who want to know in detail the making of this pottery. Almost all tour operators offer banyumulek as a tourist area when tourists visit Lombok. So no one if Banyumulek is a tourist destination that is obligatory to visit Lombok island.

How to Get There :

Towards the village of Banyumulek is very easy. From Mataram City, the capital of NTB Province, A few kilometers to the west of Mataram on the main road between Sweta-Lembar. It can be reached by vehicle about 1 hour travel.If you stay in Senggigi area, to reach Banyumulek village takes about 45 minutes by vehicle.