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Ceramic Mooncakes Fired at 1,600°C Outlive the Festival
By @sharedot · · 7 pages
Vietnam News reports HCM City artisans are turning mooncakes and lanterns into ceramic artworks that take months to design and last for years.
What the potters are making
With the Mid-Autumn Festival underway, Vietnam News reports that artisans at pottery workshops in Lái Thiêu Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, are crafting ceramic mooncakes and lanterns — familiar festive icons reimagined with vibrant glazes, intricate patterns and lifelike forms. At the Vườn Nhà Gốm workshop, pieces are shaped from clay by hand and made to look remarkably like the real pastries, complete with traditional southern Vietnamese motifs such as roosters and fruit. The workshop's owner, Khang Minh, says the idea stems from a desire to tell stories about family reunions and preserve traditional values in a new material.
Why it's a surprising feat
The process Vietnam News describes is far more demanding than it might appear. Ceramic slip is poured into moulds and left for five to six hours before demoulding, then dried for several days, glazed, and fired at around 1,600°C — about 12 hours of firing followed by another 12 hours of cooling. Vietnam News reports that some designs take three to four months of adjustment, and others as long as six to eight months from initial idea to first prototype. The payoff, per the outlet, is durability: real mooncakes are eaten within days, while ceramic versions can be preserved for years, keeping their shape, colours and the cultural stories they embody.
The artistry behind the glaze
According to Vietnam News, veteran ceramic artisan Dương Minh Tâm, with more than 30 years of experience, says the greatest challenge is not the making itself but conceiving the idea and transforming it into a finished piece. 'The greatest challenge is creating something beautiful. But in ceramics, beauty lies not only in form, but also in the patterns, motifs and the meaning conveyed through each piece,' the artisan told the outlet. Learners are joining in too: Vietnam News profiles Nguyễn Lê Trâm Anh, 29, who came to the workshop to make a jellyfish-shaped lantern, learning to knead clay to remove air bubbles and finding that a perfectly round, even body demands the most focus.
The wider festival picture
The ceramics story lands amid a festival celebrated across the region. The Guardian's picture gallery shows full-moon preparations from Hong Kong's Tai Kiu Market lantern stalls and Victoria Park displays — including lanterns resembling dumplings in a steamer — to 'Yongchang' mooncakes being made in Huangshan City, villagers drying crops in Chengkan, and festive shopping surges in Yiwu and Hanoi's Old Quarter. Vietnam News also notes Hanoi's Mid-Autumn Festival 2026 celebrating childhood and traditional culture, and family activities across Ho Chi Minh City, placing the ceramic workshops inside a living, evolving tradition.
What it means for the tradition
Vietnam News frames the ceramic works as a way of passing culture to future generations: Minh hopes they will remind younger people of Mid-Autumn festivals when families gathered together, and carry stories of traditional motifs and regional identities forward. That mission resonates beyond Vietnam — CGTN's 'We Talk' video features Shahnoza Amirbekova, a student from Tajikistan, sharing customs like moongazing, eating mooncakes and enjoying lanterns. 'No matter where they come from, people always have someone they miss,' she says, noting that even thousands of miles apart people can look up at the same moon — a sentiment these lasting ceramic keepsakes are designed to preserve.