With the Lunar New Year, known locally as Tet, just under one month away, Lai Thieu pottery village in Thuan An city in the southern province of Binh Duong have released a series of gold-plated ceramics shaped to look like buffaloes as a way of marking the upcoming Year of the Buffalo.

It is typical for local artisans to start producing new products at this time each year to symbolise the different zodiac signs in order to meet the demands of consumers. This year many have created buffalo-shaped ceramics ahead of the Lunar New Year festival.

The first step in making the items is to mix clay.

Nguyen Van Nhan, an artisan with 30 years of experience in the craft industry, says he has been given orders for a total of 10,000 buffalo-shaped ceramic products from various traders this year.

After being removed from the mold, the buffaloes-shaped items are dried for a period of six to eight hours before being placed in the kiln.

According to local artisan Phan Van Hiep, a kiln is capable of accommodating 3,000 to 4,000 items in roughly seven hours each.

The buffaloes are typically sold to artisans in Thu Dau Mot and Thuan An cities who then paint them as part of the final stage.

Gold-plated ceramics prove to be the most popular item on the market.

A buffalo-shaped ceramic product costs between VND10,000 and VND80,000, equal to US$0.43 to US$3.47, with each coming in different sizes.

The items are also exported to Laos and Cambodia each year after production.