Deep in the forests of the Soonwald, two traditional stoneware potters brave a German winter to do something almost no one does anymore — dig an entire clay pit entirely by hand. Watch as they sink a shaft over ten meters into the earth using nothing but timber, rope, a hand-forged pick, and centuries of inherited knowledge. From shoring up the shaft walls with hand-cut hornbeam hoops to widening a bell-shaped chamber underground, every step of this vanishing craft is captured in rare historical footage.
This is where your pottery begins — not at the wheel, but deep underground.
Original source material:
Tongraben bei den Töpfern am Soonwald
Published by Alltagskulturen im Rheinland
© LVR-Institut für Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte
CC BY 4.0
