A Shopping Stop for Exquisite Avanos Pottery

Avanos is Town Famous for its Turkish Crafts, Especially Pottery and Ceramics:

Ceramic artist at work

Just north of the Göreme National Park is Avanos, a town and district that is noted for its Turkish craft skills. Carpet-weaving and tapestry-making are important local skills, but it is the Avanos pottery and ceramics that this town is most famous for. There are many pottery factories in this district and we stopped at one of these en-route to Konya.

Avanos Pottery

To say that Avanos has a long history for pottery making is no exaggeration as the Avanos pottery factories date right back to the time of the Hittites in the Bronze Age. Avanos is located along the Kizilirmak (Red River), Turkey’s longest river, and the red silt of the Kizilirmak River is the source of the red clay that goes into pottery making.

Venessa Seramik Visit

This afternoon we visited the Venessa Seramik pottery factory which claims to be one of the oldest in the region. In Avanos, the craft of pottery and ceramic-making is a family tradition, passed down from father to son and the family members at Venessa Seramik have been doing this for nearly 200 years.

Pottery craftsman at Avanos

We started our visit with a demonstration by Hassan, one of their best craftsmen, who effortlessly turned a lump of red clay into a delicate teapot within a matter of minutes. Next, another craftsman showed how a slab of tile is moulded by hand.  In the next room, a group of young artists were meticulously painting the most intricate patterns onto plates and other earthenware. The impressive painting is done free-hand and as you can see from the photo above, the patterns are incredibly complex.

Exquisite Avanos Pottery

Buying Avanos Pottery

In the showroom, we got to see some of the most beautiful pieces of plates, vases and tiles. In their special collections are some rare works, including Hittite pots and other pieces reflecting Avanos’ Seljuk and Ottoman heritage.  The top of the range pieces are not cheap, but these are exquisite pottery and ceramics that would make impressive displays in any living room at home.  Tony was interested in a large plate with Koran script on it.  The listed price was TL 3,450, but they will take off the 18% VAT and offer an extra 12% discount for group tours, i.e. a total reduction of 30%.  For the more expensive pieces, they will ship them free of charge, with insurance included for breakage.

Avanos wine jugs and plate

If you love pottery or are looking for a really nice piece of Turkish craft as a souvenir of your holiday in Turkey, one of these Avanos pottery or ceramics would certainly be worth considering. They also have smaller and cheaper pieces of ceramics if you are looking for gifts and souvenirs.

You can see more photos of our Avanos pottery factory visit Here.

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