I'm not a big shopping trip person in general. M and I generally lead a minimalist lifestyle, and we don't like having a lot of stuff cluttering our house. But I do like to have things here and there that are precious treasures from the places we've lived and the memories we've made. So when I had the opportunity to join an Embassy tour to Yeoju, famous for its pottery (called 도자기 in Korean), I jumped at the chance. Thankfully my friend N could make it, too! It's always way more fun to shop with someone else.
Our first stop was a small shop, but it's no exaggeration to say it was filled with the most gorgeous pottery I'd ever seen in my life (the first photo of this post). My favorite was the traditional porcelain with blue motifs, so I couldn't help myself and purchased a few accent pieces for my dinner set.
We also got to drop into the factory out behind the shop and see workers carefully handling the ceramics at different stages in the production cycle.
After that, we went to a bunch more shops offering so many different styles and kinds of pottery. I saw kimchi jars, flower pots, home decor, tea sets, dinnerware, vases, candle holders, and pretty much anything one could need made out of clay. It seemed like the more we progressed throughout the day, the more rustic the offerings became. They were all lovely in their own way.
Thankfully, I reined in my impulse to buy half the things I saw and stuck with my modest purchase from the first store. It was so fun exploring all the merchandise and imagining how it would beautify my home, though. It had been a very long time since I had gone on a shopping trip at all, so I'm grateful there was a way here for us to do it safely and support small businesses sharing the astounding skill behind Yeoju pottery with the world. It's the perfect souvenir if you visit South Korea!
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