Sasak women in Lombok make traditional earthenware pottery, and their skill has been passed down for generations.  These skilled potters have produced beautiful shaped vessels for everyday use in Lombok households. And there are a lot of variety of that is still made today.

Sasak women shape their pots with the help of simple tools of wood, bamboo, and stone. And the clay is carried in baskets from hills near the villages. Once formed, the damp pots are burnished to a soft shine and left to dry. Traditional designs are etched onto the surface of some of the pots. On firing day, the potters stack up the pots in simple outdoor kilns fired with wood straw and rice husks. Finished pots emerge at the end of the firing colored red and black, ready to be carried to market.

In Penujak village in Central Lombok, the potters are using simple kilns to fire their pottery which often have carved designs such as lizards and frogs. It used to be that the woman produced the pots and the man marketed them. With the increased volume of production due to the export demands, it is now necessary for men to join in the production process. Nowadays they work together from design process till the marketing.

The village of Masbagik Timur is the most isolated of the three villages. Yet Masbagik Timur is renowned for its refined, delicately finished style that has surpassed that of the rougher style characteristic of Banyumulek and Penujak. Maybe for this reason, Masbagik Timur pottery dominates both the Balinese art shop and the export markets.  The Masbagik Timur earthenware designs are characterized by the use of simple forms on decorations. Some potters also produce striking designs with triangles of bone inlay.

Actually there are very few differences in the processes used in each of the three villages. What really made a difference however, are the characters of the potters themselves, and this can be seen in the designs of the pots from each village. Finding these villages may not be easy for outsider, therefore you may need assistance of the staff at Villa  Ombak.