Made by the Tangkhul tribe in Longpi Khullen, a village in the hills of Manipur in northeast India. The tradition dates to the Neolithic period — roughly 10,000 BC — and has been practiced without a potter's wheel the entire time. Every piece is hand-molded.
The material is what sets Longpi apart. Artisans collect serpentinite stone — "leshonlung" in the local language — from the hills around the village, grind it to powder, and mix it with brown clay gathered during the dry months. The proportions are unwritten, passed down from one generation of Tangkhul artisans to the next. The distinctive metallic black finish isn't glaze. It comes from the stone itself and the way it responds to fire.
WILLAGE carries this collection because this is exactly what we exist to do.
