Tan's love for collecting pottery made her want to create her own (All photos: Zahid Izzani/ The Edge)
For many ceramic artists and hobbyists, it is love at the first wheelthrowing or handbuilding class. For Tan Yong Le, however, the passion stems from travelling.
“I have always liked bringing home plates and mugs from places like Kyoto and Chiang Mai, which are well known for their ceramics,” she notes. The bigger her collection grew, the more she began to imagine what could be done with the art form — can real things serve as inspiration for shape and form, and what colours and designs can be painted on to bring a piece to life?
The playful aesthetic Tan dreamt of proved hard to come by — department stores favoured plainer, marketable Japanese and Scandinavian styles, while those offered by independent labels just fell short of what she was on the hunt for. Freshly graduated from university and in need of something to do, she decided to take up a course at Subang-based studio Clay Expression in 2023. There, she picked up the fundamentals of handbuilding, and quickly realised she could turn her passion into a full-time job. In 2024, with the support of her parents — who were businesspeople themselves — she set up Le Pottery, a brand of homemade ceramic tableware envisioned as the perfect cross between adorable aesthetics and practicality.
One key thing Tan noticed from her trips was that independent potters in other countries loved to incorporate elements of their culture and homeland into their art. This is rarer in Malaysia, where the pottery community is still relatively small. “I wondered why designs that are so personal to the maker and their heritage are so common overseas, while it is not easy to find that in our own country. Here, most of the things you find are glazed in a single colour with little to no special designs. I wanted to emulate that artistic patriotism and bring it to local enthusiasts.”
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Similar to many niche business owners, Tan began her entrepreneurship journey by participating in pop-up markets which, she notes, was not easy. “The first time I ever joined one of these events, my sales only reached a few hundred ringgit. But I could not just give up,” she recounts. As she interacted with more customers, she gained a better understanding of what they were looking for. Much like her, they had difficulty finding locally hand-produced pieces with unique and quirky designs. These buyers did not only prioritise function, but also an object’s ability to express their taste and personality. Fun ceramics made cooking and plating a wholesome experience, and helped Tan’s youthful consumer base feel more motivated to make these tasks a routine.
Her designs began to take the form of local delicacies nostalgic to all who grew up in Malaysia. Dipping bowls with an egg tart-shaped divot for keeping sauces on the side, chopstick rests imitating kuih bahulu and mugs painted with depictions of durians, nasi lemak and ais kacang. Coasters are imprinted with local slang phrases and patterns, while colourful mini cups are perfect for holding a shot of espresso, liquid courage or even soft boiled eggs, if you love a multipurpose vessel. Simpler colourways with understated motifs are also available for those who prefer something slightly less pictorial but still darling.
Beyond readymade pieces, Le Pottery also offers customisation, perfect for gifting loved ones (or ensuring your office dishware is unmistakably yours and therefore un-pinchable). It is a labour of love which begins with a thorough discussion of what the client wants before Tan gets to sculpting. Each item is then left to dry completely for a couple weeks before being loaded into the kiln for the first firing that goes on for three days.
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After that comes the painting and glazing, which Tan notes is the most challenging step. “It’s important for customers to know that no two ceramics are exactly the same, and we don’t have full control over how colours develop in the kiln,” she explains. Though it is rare for a customer to reject a final product, pickier individuals with narrow expectations can find it hard to accept anything that does not fit the image they had in mind. When this does happen, Tan says the next move is usually to issue a refund, but she also feels somewhat downhearted as a lot of time and effort went into creating the unsold piece.
With her one-woman-show brand gaining steady traction in its second year, though, the young potter hardly has any complaints. Her latest break came in the form of an unexpected Instagram message from Tsutaya bookstore — the beloved Japanese literature and stationery shop — inviting her to display her goods at its Intermark Mall outlet in Kuala Lumpur. The stand, which carries a small collection of signature designs, is open until June 2 and is a step up from the casual self-manned booths Tan is used to. More importantly, it brings her work to a wider demographic. Le Pottery will also venture overseas soon for an upcoming pop-up in Singapore.
What else is next? Tan muses on the possibility of conducting workshops in the future, wanting to open eyes to the endless possibilities achievable with just a lump of clay and some imagination. But first, she plans to help her fellow Malaysian artists.
“The pottery community in Malaysia is still growing, which means materials can be difficult to source. When makers cannot easily find what they need, they need to spend more time and resources to DIY their own materials from scratch. I’m hoping to start bringing in some popular glaze brands from overseas and supply them to studios and artists, so there is one less thing to worry about,” says Tan.
This article first appeared on May 11, 2026 in The Edge Malaysia.
