Vu Khanh Tung carries forward his father’s legacy at Bat Trang Museum

After 50 years of devotion, the legacy left by People’s Artisan Vu Thang included priceless collections, many of them one-of-a-kind. He had refused to sell them at any price, saving them for a project of passion, with a long-term vision: to establish the first private ceramic museum in Bat Trang pottery village. Then fate intervened, cruelly and without warning. Faced with a mountain of unfinished work, the artisan’s only son found himself overwhelmed and uncertain where to begin, never having followed the same path.

Yet, not long after, as if summoned by destiny, the ceramic soul entered him, claimed him, and began to burn brightly.

Once the initial confusion subsided, Tung began to understand what he must do. “Thanks to the solidarity of everyone in the family, and the guidance of my mother who stood by my father throughout his career, my siblings and I built the Bat Trang Museum Atelier (BTMA) brand. My family members directly oversee the creation of models and production, working alongside long-time craftsmen in the workshop to maintain the products in my late father’s style,” he explained.

“For me, Bat Trang Museum Atelier is a place where two generations come together. On one side is the vision of my father, always mindful of the heritage of the craft village. From the moment he named it the Museum of Vietnamese Soul Art Bat Trang, for him that name extended beyond pottery, opening space for other art forms, for boundless creativity and dialogue between past and present. He was committed to the spirit of experimentation. He inherited traditional techniques from mixing glazes and shaping forms to blending colours, yet he constantly renewed them with daring combinations: layer upon layer of glaze to create depth, traditional motifs placed on modern silhouettes, or the inclusion of silver, lacquer, silkworm cocoons, dried flowers and more into ceramic works.

On the other side, contemporary aesthetics, a sensitivity to images and an instinct for storytelling are partly my strengths and experience, which at heart must also have come from him. The design language of the workshop is, in essence, a continuation: using tradition as a foundation while creating with the vocabulary of the times. The ‘artist’ spirit of my father, always experimenting, daring, and finding his own path, has become the guiding principle, even the manifesto, of the museum and the pottery workshop. From there, each piece becomes a dialogue between two generations: one who devoted his entire life to pottery, and one who went far afield before returning with a fresh perspective to retell the story of heritage,” Tung shared about the connection between him and his father, in their coincidental yet profound storytelling of Bat Trang ceramic heritage.

In his new role as Director of the Bat Trang Museum of Vietnamese Soul Art, Vu Khanh Tung began the process of repositioning the brand, which included redesigning the identity with a unique font called ‘MN Vu Thang’, a tribute to his father, the late People’s Artist Vu Duc Thang, who was also a painter and art collector. The name ‘Bat Trang Museum’ (Bat Trang Museum of Vietnamese Soul Art) is retained in both Vietnamese and English, a deliberate and consistent choice that affirms its long-term development orientation. ‘Bat Trang’ anchors the museum in the tradition of Vietnamese ceramics, while ‘Museum’ is a familiar international term, easing its connection with a multilingual public. From the outset, the museum was envisioned not only as a place to display ceramics, but as a space for diverse art forms. This spirit came from the founder’s desire to preserve and spread cultural values through creativity. Keeping the name Bat Trang Museum is a way of affirming its unique identity within the current of contemporary culture.

Reluctant at first, but quick to adapt, Tung found himself in the role he had never planned for yet seemed destined to hold: Creative and Executive Director of Bat Trang Museum Atelier (BTMA). Without delay, he began building new collections to carry on the story his father had long sought to tell.

“Continuing the legacy of more than 50 years of the workshop my father created, my team at BTMA always strives to connect traditional culture with contemporary aesthetic thinking. We begin by drawing on the aesthetic elements of Vietnamese pottery – patterns, glazes, and shapes. Yet what makes the collections distinctive is the way we weave together the essence of different cultural heritages, experimenting with forms, textures, and materials to create functional works that still embody refinement, restraint and visual harmony, true to the spirit Bat Trang Museum has always pursued. Each collection begins with a specific cultural story, but is reinterpreted through a contemporary design language,” Tung told Tatler.

Exclusive collections available at BTMA:

• The Dragon Street Collection: Created in collaboration with designer Dieu Anh, this special experiment takes the image of the dragon, a familiar symbol in traditional Vietnamese art, and places it alongside everyday objects such as water pipes, plastic chairs and tyres. The result is a dialogue between the old and the new, the solemn and the playful, the traditional and the street. “We were excited by this bold, unconventional experiment, something my colleagues and I are deeply passionate about,” Tung shared with delight.
• The Weaving a Flower Collection : Launched in early 2025, this series is another intriguing experiment. The workshop’s signature creations from Ceramic Shoes and Tulip Towers to the Vase Bag celebrate the beauty of ancient blue-and-white motifs such as hibiscus, honeysuckle and lemon blossom. These timeless patterns are refreshed, resulting in a distinctive hand-painted collection.
• An Nam Collection: Another collaboration with designer Dieu Anh, this collection reimagines Asian symbols such as the turban, the yem dress, bamboo joints and rice grains, all interpreted through a minimalist design language with a focus on form and material. The turban recalls Brancusi’s sculptural spirit, the yem combines bronze and ceramic to highlight feminine beauty, while rice grains and bamboo joints are crafted with flexibility, functioning as both vases and wall art or as striking decorative clusters.
• Ballerina Lamp - “Interior Product of the Year” at Asia Architecture Design Award 2023: Created in partnership with fashion brand LEAP ART, this design draws inspiration from the discipline and passion of ballet dancers, one of Europe’s most classical art forms. The lamp combines traditional materials and techniques: Bat Trang ceramics adorned with floral carvings, and hand-embroidered velvet crafted by artisans from Thuong Tin, Ha Tay. This work was awarded Interior Product of the Year at the Asia Architecture Design Award 2023.
• Duck Collection in collaboration with architect Nguyen Ha: Two standout designs: the TOGAN Lamp and NGA NGA Vase were developed with architect Nguyen Ha and BTMA’s creative team, inspired by an original work by the late People’s Artist Vu Thang displayed at the Bat Trang Museum of Vietnamese Soul Art. Both were refined with new functions as a table lamp and a vase.
• Ceramic vase “Ai Oi Bag”: A collaboration with the brand LUU VIETANH, this piece transforms a handbag into a ceramic vase. Inspired by the gift baskets often exchanged during Vietnamese holidays, each vase tells a story and captures a memory of Vietnam, reinterpreted through a sleeker, more contemporary lens.

Alongside its experimental collections, BTMA is equally devoted to researching the heritage of ancient Vietnamese ceramics across the centuries. Tung told Tatler: “From the very beginning, my father invested enormous effort into restoring ceramic traditions from the Ly, Tran and Mac dynasties, as well as artefacts dating from the 17th to 19th centuries. Today, we pursue this work in greater depth, selecting representative artefacts to reinterpret them through the workshop’s aesthetic language: minimalist in form, layered in glazes, retaining their original spirit yet infused with contemporary resonance. In this way, we maintain the bridge between past and present, between timeless value and everyday use.”

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Some of BTMA’s successful restorations

• Parrot: In addition to flowers and leaves, images of birds also appear densely on ancient ceramic motifs and artifacts, including parrots. This was also the inspiration for Ly-Tran ceramic artisans in the 12th century to create a brown ceramic wine bottle with parrot-shaped flowers. Simulating one of the iconic designs of ancient Vietnamese ceramics, BTMA’s Parrot is created in a minimalist style, emphasizing the shape and finished with the workshop’s signature layer of colored glaze, creating a modern spirit for a form imbued with traditional imprints.
• Phoenix Teapot: The ancient phoenix teapot was crafted by ceramic artisans of the Le So Dynasty in the 15th century, incorporating the image of a mythical bird into the shape of an everyday object, and is currently on display at the Vietnam National Museum of History. BTMA’s version of the phoenix teapot was restored by hand, covered with the pottery workshop’s signature glaze, creating a modern spirit for an ancient design. Here’s a polished version of your article in Tatler house style, UK English, keeping the structure and flow intact, avoiding parallelism, and staying close to the original.
• Elephant Statue with Lotus Platform: Inspired by the brown ceramic art of the Ly-Tran Dynasty in the 13th–14th century, BTMA introduces a restored version of the antique Elephant Statue with Lotus Platform, reimagined in a monochrome glaze. Crafted by the hands of the workshop’s artisans, the details on the elephant’s body are deliberately simplified to emphasise the soft, flowing lines of the form, in harmony with the meticulously carved lotus platform it carries.
• Nghe pedestal/elephant pedestal: In every historical period, elephants and nghe have been regarded as mascots, deeply embedded in folk culture. The elephant embodies strength, wisdom and steadfastness. The nghe, often found in Vietnamese communal houses, temples and shrines, serves as guardian and protector of sacred places. Inspired by stone pedestals and decorative column bases in Vietnamese architecture and sculpture from the 11th–14th centuries, BTMA’s elephant and nghe pedestal chairs are brought to life with the distinctive glaze of the workshop.

How has travelling with contemporary artists opened up dialogues?

Vu Khanh Tung: As I shared earlier, even in the name my father gave the museum, “Bat Trang Museum of Vietnamese Soul Art”, there was a vision far broader than the typical definition of a ceramics museum. The name goes beyond pottery, which is inseparable from Bat Trang. It honours artists, craftsmen and multiple art forms. For him, ceramics were a medium of dialogue, and now, I and my colleagues, contemporary artists, continue that dialogue in diverse languages and through varied ways of telling stories.

Over the past three years, BTMA has consistently organised and joined community activities, exhibitions and collaborative projects with contemporary artists. I believe that when ceramics encounter new ideas, materials and visual languages, they gain a fresh vitality, moving beyond repetitive moulds of form or function.

I seek out people whose artistic thinking resonates with BTMA, not necessarily in style or background, but in a shared respect for traditional values and cultural heritage worldwide, and in the conviction that ceramics deserve a living presence in art. Creativity should not follow trends or accepted standards, but arise from the artist’s own process of listening and self-reflection. From those inner depths come the essential elements, gradually forming ideas that lead to works with distinctive character, while keeping intact the messages and beauty that endure without fading.

Rong Pho was the first collaborative project between BTMA and designer Dieu Anh, and my first time acting as curator, accompanying the entire creative process. It was then I realised that my role as “rhythm keeper” is not to replace the artist, but to create the conditions for the artist to “meet” ceramics from a fresh, contemporary perspective. This project pointed clearly to the path ahead: creative collaboration as the way for the workshop to continue the dialogue with heritage: not through repetition, but through expansion, adaptation and renewal of spirit.

What significance does reflecting on old works have in your creative journey?

VKT: I think each artist’s identity and experience evolves over time, and so too does their creative thinking and their view of past works. Yet every piece created at a particular moment holds the imprint of passion, commitment and ego from that time. For this reason, I believe in appreciating and accepting the imperfections of those works, because they contribute to the authenticity and continuous evolution of art.

What next plans can BTMA reveal?

VKT: In the time ahead, drawing on its knowledge and experience, BTMA will continue its journey of researching and developing the aesthetic elements of traditional Vietnamese ceramics, from form and glaze to decorative motifs, refining and bringing these elements into new designs with a contemporary sensibility.

Collaborations with contemporary artists will remain central to BTMA’s strategy. Each partnership offers a new perspective, approach and expression whether through the creation of entirely new works or by reinterpreting the legacy left by the late folk artists. The common goal remains: to honour and carry forward the heritage.

Article adapted from the original feature in Tatler Vietnam, July 2025 issue

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