Assia is a spacious village located in the heart of Batroun’s area and holds, following Tannourine, Douma and Hamat, the 4th position among Batroun’s towns and villages in terms of land.
Assia had always known an ancient history demonstrated by the remains of monuments returning to the roman age and findings going back to before that period. The most distinctive historical monuments in Assia are the remains of the temple devoted for the worship of Esculape, God of mythology which, as previously mentioned, became a Christian temple.
Assia is known for its traditional practice of pottery characterized by its shape and reddish color. A tradition that had perpetuated from generation to another, it is 100% handmade, meaning not a single machine is used, not even a turntable. It is one of the most ancient form of Lebanese pottery. All ingredients are 100% natural with no chemical or artificial materials ever used.
Assia pottery’s composition is quite simple: pottery sand that is extracted from the land and a quartz-like stone that is grinded and mixed with it. The process of making the pottery is a bit more complicated and can take up to a month to finish a single piece.
Pottery is made by forming a clay body into objects of a required shape and heating them to high temperatures in an oven which removes all the water from the clay, which induces reactions that lead to permanent changes including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape.
But before being cooked, the clay pottery is left to dry, after which the craftsperson uses a knife to remove thickness from the piece. After a day or two left in the shade, away from sun and wind, another round of polishing with the pebbles is done. The piece should then dry for a week or two, after which it will get a final polish layer (also done with pebbles) to make sure all roughness is gone.
At this point, the piece becomes shiny without the use of any varnish material, simply by polishing it with the pebble. The item is kept in a room to fully dry and then cooked in a wood oven. During the final phase, many of the pieces are ruined due to mishandling or small defaults in the fabrication, making the whole process quite tiresome. (Lebanontraveller extract)
Sana Jabbour, had learned the know-how from her mother. Assia pottery is famous for its unique shape but nowadays a bigger selection was added due to public demand. However, Sana refused to produce decorative, as Assia pottery’s main feature is its health advantages for cooking and general use.
You can visit Sana Jabbour in her atelier in Assia, or meet her at Souk el Tayyeb in Beirut.
Sana Jabbour phone nbr: 961 3 630626
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