Cambodian Cookstove

Appropriate technology, if ever there were

Using an ancient technique of shaping pots with a paddle and anvil, women in the villages of Kampong Chhnang, an hour’s drive northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh, took advantage of the rich clay deposits nearby to develop a craft industry that gained a reputation throughout Cambodia and beyond. The potter holds a rounded wooden anvil in one hand, inside the emerging pot or stove, and strikes the clay with a flat wooden paddle to thin and shape the wall—a technique encountered throughout Native North America, Africa, and Asia. The ware is fired in the open at low temperatures, using rice straw as fuel, to produce durable but affordable goods. The cookstove is designed to hold the round-bottomed pot in place and to allow coal or firewood to be easily fed underneath.

The pottery villages have been the target of international development assistance since 1998, with a German aid organization introducing foot-kicked potter’s wheels to supplement the paddle-and-anvil method. The artisans quickly realized that the German design did not fit their body types, and they adapted the wheels to better accommodate their size and working habits. They also made an important decision as a community: before beginning to learn the techniques of throwing pots on the wheel, young village girls must first master the age-old paddle and anvil. German aid continues under various projects in this and other villages.

While women are the pottery producers, it is their husbands and brothers who carry the goods to market, setting out on selling trips that might take them to the farthest corners of Cambodia or beyond. Some enterprising families now take pots to buyers on trucks, but the ware is usually first loaded onto a cart drawn by horse or ox before several cartloads are consolidated onto a truck. The vendors who set out from the village to sell pots return weeks later with news of the outside world, ideas for new products, and feedback from customers so that ongoing production can respond to market demands.