Longpi Teapot
$345.00
LONGPI BLACK POTTERY
ꯂꯣꯡꯄꯤ ꯑꯃꯁꯨꯡ ꯑꯃꯁꯨꯡ
Long-pee Black Pottery
Longpi Village, Ukhrul District, Manipur, India.
Please note: This video is AI-generated, to show the making process until we can film the artisans ourselves.
No pottery wheel. No glaze. A technique that predates the wheel itself, carried for around 4,000 years in the hills of Manipur.
Longpi is a cluster of Tangkhul Naga villages in the hills of Ukhrul, in northeast Manipur. Everything the pottery needs comes from the forests around them: black serpentinite stone from Kaphungrim hill, and a brown clay from Sala hill, gathered only in the dry months.
The stone is broken with hammers, ground to powder and mixed with clay into a stiff dough, always more stone than clay. It's rolled into sheets and shaped with simple moulds, bamboo paddles and thread, then smoothed with polishing stones. After hours in an open fire, each piece is rubbed with fresh leaves while still hot. That's where its soft shine comes from.
Around 200 potters, men and women, make Longpi Ham in Longpi Kajui and Nungbi Khullen. The skill is learned in the family. Master potter Machihan Sasa learned from his father, has trained more than 300 people, and in 2024 received the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honours. In 2025, the potters of Longpi Kajui applied for a Geographical Indication to protect the Longpi name.
Longpi pottery is believed to reach back to the Neolithic age, around 4,000 years ago, and local legend says the craft was a gift from the goddess Panthoibi. For the Tangkhul Naga, Longpi Ham was the kitchen: pots for cooking meat, brewing rice beer, and storing water and spices. Until aluminium reached the hills, every home cooked in them.The teapots and bowls made today come from that same hearth.
Why is it rare?
A tradition around 4,000 years old, now kept by about 200 potters. Every piece is made by hand from stone and clay carried down from the forest. The clay can only be gathered in the dry months, and work slows during the rains, so it's made in small numbers, a season at a time. A single piece takes four to seven days and two to three makers.
