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Craft · the Ceramic bottle · 50 ml

Ceramic
and fire

clay, by hand

The Ceramic bottle from R Parfums is closed with a small sphere of fired clay. At a ceramics studio in Vietnam, liquid clay is poured into white moulds, each mouth is cut one at a time, and the glaze goes on pink; the kiln decides its colour, which recalls Chu Đậu ware and shifts from one firing to the next.

See the six bottlesThe film →
Fired ceramic spheres in blue-grey and speckled glaze beside a round ceramic disc, a glass bottle out of focus in the foreground
Out of the kiln: blue-grey and speckled glaze, and a ceramic disc.

Eight steps, from clay to box

  1. I

    Clay

  2. II

    The mould

  3. III

    By hand

  4. IV

    Drying

  5. V

    Glaze

  6. VI

    Fire

  7. VII

    What the kiln gives back

  8. VIII

    Dressed

Clay

It begins with clay. On a plaster table, two hands knead a block of it. Behind them sits a tray of pale spheres.

Two hands kneading a block of clay on a plaster table, a tray of pale spheres behind them
Kneading, on a plaster table.
A sheet of smooth clay laid flat, in soft light
Clay, laid flat and smooth.
A hand pouring cream-coloured liquid clay from a jug into a row of white moulds
Pouring.
Hands tipping a white mould over a jug, the excess liquid clay running out, against a blue background
Tipping out what is not needed.
Opened white moulds stacked together, their round hollows showing, a cream sphere resting in one corner
The mould, open.

II

The mould

Liquid clay is poured from a jug into a row of white moulds, each with a small round opening. Then the mould is tipped, and the clay it does not need runs back into the jug.

The halves of the mould are pulled apart. Inside, a sphere the colour of cream.

III

By hand

Each sphere needs a mouth, the opening that will sit on the neck of the bottle. It is cut with a small tool, one sphere at a time, and the surface is wiped smooth with a sponge. Crumbs of clay gather on the table.

No mould does this part.

A green tool cutting the opening of a sphere, a sponge and crumbs of clay beside it
Cutting the mouth.
A sphere in close-up with a ring of black-and-white pattern at its mouth, a carving tool beside it
The mouth, close up.
A hand wiping a sphere with a yellow sponge, crumbs of clay and a patterned jar on the table
Wiping smooth.
A sphere with its mouth cut, lying among other spheres, in grey monochrome
One sphere, its mouth cut.
Three straight rows of white spheres drying on a board, one cream sphere in the middle row
Drying, in rows.
White spheres on a board in close-up, the background out of focus
Close up.
The corner of a board with a few white spheres, a dark brown table around it
Space between them.

IV

Drying

Then they wait. Rows of white spheres dry on boards before the glaze goes on.

Glaze

Raw glaze is brushed on, one row of the board at a time.

Raw glaze is pink. The fire decides the colour.

A bowl of thick pink raw glaze seen from above, on dark wood
Raw glaze, before the fire.
A bowl of pink glaze with a red-handled brush beside a board of white spheres, one row already pink
Brushing, row by row.
A board of spheres: the left-hand row glazed pink, the rest still white
One row pink, the rest still white.
Rows of pink-violet glazed spheres at eye level inside a kiln, heating coils blurred behind them
In the kiln, still in raw glaze.
A kiln shelf holding an unglazed white cup, a violet plate and a pink bowl
A shelf in the kiln.

VI

Fire

1000 degrees Celsius

The glazed spheres go into the kiln in rows, on its shelves. Then the kiln is brought up to heat.

Pink goes in. Something else comes out. The glazes recall Chu Đậu ware.

VII

What the kiln gives back

Out of the fire come colours the pink gave no sign of: blue-grey, brown, glossy black, a speckled blue. The same glaze can come out differently from one firing to the next, and it shifts again with the light.

A glass bottle on the left, glazed spheres in glossy black, blue and brown, and a cream ceramic disc on a wooden table
Glossy black, blue, brown.
Glossy grey and glossy black spheres and a cream disc, seen from above
Grey and black, from above.
Glazed spheres in blue-grey, brown, glossy black and speckled blue, with a cream ceramic disc, on dark wood
Four colours and a disc.
A Ceramic bottle with an ivory glazed cap and a white tassel, studio photograph
Studio photograph. Glaze colour changes from one firing to the next and with the light: a guide to colour, not an exact match.

On your bottle

Each cap, its own shade of glaze

The kiln decides the glaze and the maker’s hand the tassel, so each Ceramic bottle comes to you as it was finished.

Every Ceramic bottle carries a ceramic charm engraved with R.

Choose a scent ↓

VIII

Dressed

On the bottle, the cap is joined by its tassel, finished by hand, and a small ceramic charm engraved with R. Then the bottle goes into its box.

Clay, glass, a tassel, a charm, a box.

Tassel
Finished by hand, each its own
Charm
Ceramic, engraved with R
Box
A white box with a fitted insert, and a brown box printed R PARFUMS in gold
A square glass bottle with a ceramic disc at its neck, glazed spheres beside it
Glass, cap and disc.
A hand placing a round cream charm and a gold piece with a black tassel in the fitted insert of a white box
Into the box.
An open white box holding a glass bottle, a black tassel and a brown-glazed sphere, a hand on the lid, a clear bottle in the foreground
Ready to close.
A brown box printed R PARFUMS in gold, a clear glass bottle out of focus behind it
The box.
A square glass bottle engraved with R PARFUMS beside a brown box
The glass, beside its box.
Ceramic and fire · 1:29 · silent

Film

Ceramic and fire

Cut from footage shot at the studio where our caps are made: the clay, the moulds, the hands, the kiln.

All our films →

About the film

A silent film shot at a ceramics studio in Vietnam, where our caps are made. It opens on the long worktable and a slab of fine clay. Liquid clay is poured into white moulds, the excess tipped back out, the halves pulled apart. Each small sphere has its mouth cut and is wiped smooth with a sponge, then left in rows to dry. The raw glaze goes on pink. The spheres are stacked on kiln shelves and fired. What comes back is blue-grey, brown, glossy black. Last, a ceramic disc engraved with R and its tassel are set into the box beside the bottle.

Ceramic · 50 ml · six scents

Six scents, each under its own cap

Six scents wear this bottle. Choose yours.

The scent inside is the same as in the Patina bottle. What changes is the cap.

The Ceramic bottles →

The other bottle keeps time in brass: three pieces, corroded, filed and polished.

The Patina craft →

At a glance

Line
Ceramic, one of two 50 ml bottles (the other is Patina on Brass)
Cap
A clay sphere formed from liquid clay poured into a white mould, its mouth cut one at a time, its surface wiped smooth
Glaze
Brushed on raw and pink; the fire brings out the colour. The glazes recall Chu Đậu ware
Firing
In a kiln, after the glaze goes on ( step VI)
Colour
Changes from one firing to the next, and with the light
Charm
Ceramic, engraved with R
Made at
A ceramics studio in Vietnam
Scents
Eau de Hajime · Pluviophile · Nostalgic March · 221B · Shadow Éclat · Béton Chaud
To buy
The Ceramic collection, six scents in 50 ml
See it first
At our three houses in Ho Chi Minh City, open daily
Delivery
Within Vietnam only
Film
Ceramic and fire

Questions about the ceramic cap

  • Why might my cap look a little different from the photographs?

    Glaze colour changes from one firing to the next, and it shifts with the light. The photographs on this site are a guide to colour, not an exact match.

  • What decides the glaze and the tassel on my bottle?

    The kiln sets the glaze and the maker’s hand the tassel; neither colour can be requested. Only the scent is yours to choose. Every Ceramic bottle carries a ceramic charm engraved with R.

“…the fire-kissed surface of ceramic – the way time leaves its fingerprints.”

From the About R Parfums card, printed 2026

Try the six at our houses

All six scents are at each of our three houses in Ho Chi Minh City to try on skin, open every day. Ceramic arrives at the houses in late November.

The Houses →