What is Zlakusa pottery

Zlakusa pottery is traditional unglazed earthenware, hand-made in the village of Zlakusa near Uzice from a mixture of clay and calcite, shaped on a hand-turned potter's wheel and fired in an open flame without glaze. Because of this, the vessels withstand direct heat and are used for cooking.

Why Zlakusa pottery is special

What sets Zlakusa vessels apart from ordinary ceramics is the raw material and the firing. The clay is mixed with calcite in a roughly 1:1 ratio. The calcite is quarried at neighbouring Rupeljevo, the clay at Vranjani near Pozega — which is why the protected area of the craft covers the surrounding villages and not Zlakusa alone. This mixture makes the vessel heat-resistant, so it can go straight onto the stove, into the oven or over embers without cracking.

The pottery is never glazed. The surface stays natural, and the colour — from red to smoky black — comes only from the clay and the open-fire baking. Many cooks say that food prepared in a Zlakusa vessel has a distinctive taste that enamelled or industrial pots cannot give.

What it is made of

• Clay from deposits around the village of Zlakusa
• Calcite (a white mineral component) in a roughly 1:1 ratio
• No glaze, no chemical coatings, no moulds

How a vessel is made

The whole process, from preparing the clay to the finished vessel, takes seven to ten days. The vessel is shaped by hand on a slow wheel turned by the potter, decorated with simple geometric patterns, dried for several days and finally fired on an open flame. A full explanation is on the technique page.

UNESCO recognition

The knowledge and skills of Zlakusa pottery-making were inscribed in 2020 on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It was the first element from the field of craft knowledge with which Serbia entered this list.