As I am walking into a small pathway, beside me is a halfburnt house that vividly brought to my mind the sound of a roaring fire. It was easy to imagine the scene as I tried to walk through a tiny street that leads to a place that was once known as the home of a skillful community called Ban Bu. It is such a shame that the community burned down not long ago in a terrible accident, but there is a long history behind the wrecked buildings.

Ban Bu Village is situated on the bank of Bangkok Noi canal. The villagers are descendants of migrants who fled Ayutthaya when Burmese troops razed the old capital. The village is famous for its stone-washed metal bowls, called khan long hin. It is a community renowned for its metal workers, who fashion exquisite bronze bowls using traditional methods. These khan long hin can be found throughout the narrow lanes of the neighborhood with the best-known workshop, that of the famous metal worker Jiam Sangsajja. The factory is run by a member of the second generation, Mrs. Metta Salanon (Sangsajja), who welcomes all visitors and takes them on a tour through the historical path of khan long hin Ban Bu. She explains, “khan long hin, or stone-polished bronze ware, which is an old Thai handicraft product that goes back more than 200 years, is bronze ware polished with small pieces of stone. Ban Bu is the only village presently making khan long hin in the old method. The villagers had originally migrated from Krung Si Ayutthaya after the fall of the Ayutthaya kingdom, and they have made bronze products here since AD 1767.”

Bronze is an alloy of metals, a combination of tin, copper, and a special type of gold called thong ma lo. For a long time, Thai people have used bronze products such as deep bowls and shallow bowls. Traditionally, these bronze pieces were used in the performance of religious ceremonies; often people would float flowers in them to give the water a pleasant aroma. They would also be used to hold rice to be donated to monks, again with flowers inside, as the flowers would impart a fragrance to the rice. The most highly regarded khan is the stone-finished type. Despite there being seven meticulous steps in the production process, there is no assistance from modern technology. The bowls are made by hand from start to finish: molding and shaping the bowl and carving the elaborate Thai designs.

“Bu” is a word that means metal beating. It is a method for decorating the surface of works of art, durable goods, and certain kinds of architecture, to enhance their value and endurance. The term “metal beating” means to wrap the object with a thin material or to beat something into shape, such as bu khan long hin (beating bronze on a bowl using a stone mold for the pattern).

Metal beating has been a royal craft since the old days. Metal is beaten into thin sheets and wrapped over a model, which can be made of various materials such as wood, plaster, or metal. Metal beating can be applied to small objects as well as huge ones. In the making of a bowl, the three molten metals are combined in a single mould and fired again. The resulting alloy is hammered into shape and turned on a lathe. In the past, fine crushed stone and water wrapped in a cloth were used to polish the surface of the khan. Today this is done by crushing the molds after casting. As they have been in the fire during the casting process, they make a good polishing medium. Stone-finished khan are still used for their original purposes, but are now mostly in demand as house decorations, and they are a favorite gift for foreign visitors. The bowls are available in many sizes for various occasions. There are deep bowls, salad and fruit bowls, trays, cream and sugar bowl sets with an oval tray, and shallow bowls without a base.

Mrs. Metta adds, “We became well known after we received many awards from the One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) Project, and that helped us attract more customers, which is really helping in terms of expanding our market and knowing our customers. They really help with the ideas and functional designs – as you can see, there are many pieces with designs that I have adapted for uses in daily life. About 50 years ago, the bronze products had been developed into many different kinds beside deep bowls and shallow bowls. Plates, salad bowls, fruit bowls, ash trays, foods trays, for example, these are popular among foreigners, so these bronze products have become export items. However, the methods of production still follow the old ways, whether it’s melting the raw materials or using the hammer to shape them up.”

It is a source of pride for Mrs. Metta’s family to be a representative of the art of making khan long hin. While she was taking me on the tour, she explained, “We have only 12 workers and they have been with us as long as I can remember. It is such a shame that this might be the last generation, and they are getting old. Most of their children want to do easier jobs. Working in front of a fire would not be their first choice.” She told me, as she pointed out an empty lot, “As you can see here, we are constructing a building that we will use in the near future as a museum of Ban Bu and showcase our products. We hope that this will attract tourists as well as Thai people, and they will know that Ban Bu exists and has retained its identity as a community that presents the best in Thai crafts.”

Ban Bu Community

Charansanitwong Road, Soi 32

Siriraj Subdistrict

Bangkok Noi District

Bangkok 10700

Open daily 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Free admission

Call (66) 0 2424 1689

(66) 0 2424 7493