Our Social Mission
Khmer Ceramics Vision.
– Khmer Ceramics & Fine Arts Centre is a social enterprise, focused on leveraging business principles and practices to maximize improvements in social, economic and environmental well-being within the local community.
– Khmer Ceramics work on the revival of ancient Khmer pottery and ceramics technique, and the development of contemporary Khmer Ceramics Art.
– Khmer Ceramics works on the revival and creation of the ceramics sector in Cambodia, who was nearly nonexistent in 2006, when the project started.
Since its founding in 2006, 100% of the profits of Khmer Ceramics & Fine Arts Centre have been reinvested for:
– Ongoing development of the project.
– Research and preservation of local art and culture.
– Create employment and other economic and social benefits for the local community.
Responsible Direct Trade Social Business.
Your relationship with Khmer Ceramics is direct; you interact with the maker.
What is Direct Trade?
It is clean, clear, direct: You are in contact with the maker. We are peoples, empowering each other. We are making an exceptional work, as we do it with our heart, and we believe in it. We sale our product directly to the end customer. We redistribute the profit and empower our community.
Time saving for everyone:
- We are promoting “DirectTrade”, as an easy way to be directly in contact with the maker.
- We are concentrating on our work, our process, and quality, for the well being of our customers, and the makers.
- We are speaking about our product, our community, and what we do.
- We are taking care of our community, and we do all what we can to empower each other within this community, and a little bit more.
The Khmer Ceramics & Fine Arts Centre has three main missions.
Providing employment and social development.
By providing employment we contributing to economic and social development. All employees are provided extensive on-the-job training at Khmer Ceramics & Fine Arts Centre, which is the most advanced school for the ceramic, pottery and porcelain arts in Cambodia. After training, they are offered employment with us and opportunities to develop their livelihood and future.
We believe people are the core of the company and offer advantageous working conditions, resulting in many trainee staff staying with us long-term while others go on to start their own businesses or work with other projects. We continue to support them during this transition.
Revive high-fired Khmer Ceramics & Porcelain.
We Revive the lost art and skills of high-fired Khmer ceramics and Khmer porcelain. When we started the project in 2006, high temperature Khmer ceramics, pottery and porcelain had disappeared as an art form. Through our efforts and determination, we have contributed to a nascent revival of the art form and underlying artisan skill sets. Small enterprises and large companies are now producing ceramics in Cambodia, marking an important first step toward cultural and artistic revival, but much more needs to be done.
We are also working on developing other types of artisan mediums in order to help a broader resurgence of traditional Khmer arts and handicrafts, which have suffered from the global profit-focused trend toward the simplification and industrialization of artistic processes and practices.
Training for disadvantaged members of the community.
Many disadvantaged young people from orphanages or with disabilities come to be trained at Khmer Ceramics & Fine Arts Centre, providing them with education and employment opportunities that are rare in Cambodia. Many of our employees are women, and we provide very flexible working conditions, including support when they have children. We are always looking for talent, and try to develop employees’ individual skill sets, providing advice and guidance to help them become leaders in their field.
We believe art is a significant factor in the human development of individuals and communities. By practicing these arts, using artisanal skills and producing high-quality products oriented to the top-end market, we can secure a bright future for our community