For the women of Sè, pottery is both a link to the past and a modern economic activity.
By Joel Kouam, bird story agency
Most mornings, Bénita Jéradelle rotates between two crafts. At home, she works on sewing projects, cutting and designing clothes for clients. Later, she heads to the Akpenin Mahou women’s gathering place, where she works alongside other potters to prepare clay, shape pottery, and supervise the firing of finished pieces. The potters are all women.
Although Jéradelle learned the craft of pottery from her mother, she had previously seen it only as a side-hustle; an addition to her regular income of sewing. Today, almost five years after taking it up part-time, the work is both a substantial economic activity and a way of maintaining a family tradition.
“I started learning to sew in 2022. After graduating, I had a child, and we all know that things change completely when you get married. And as I was born into a family of potters, I took up this line of work to achieve greater financial stability, as sewing isn’t always profitable. So I do both these jobs at the same time,” Jéradelle explained.
She is not alone; many other women in her community have tapped skills passed from mother to daughter over generations and the result is a thriving pottery in the village of Sè, Benin.
Sè, located in the commune of Houéyogbé in Benin’s Mono department, was historically associated with pottery. A 1981 survey of pottery in southern Benin identified the ara as one of the craft’s primary centers, with women serving as the sole potters in the districts studied. The study also documented a production process in which women handled everything from acquiring clay to shaping, firing, and selling finished pots.
Éric Thomson, a cultural events specialist, points out that pottery in Sè has long been passed down through daily practice within families.
“We’re part of the oral tradition, you know, the tradition of practice. For us, when pottery is practised in a courtyard, it’s already a school, a learning centre for the young child who watches their mother doing something and then starts doing it too. As a result, knowledge is passed on very easily by copying the example set by mum.”
In Sè, the process starts with the clay. Women bring clay from a quarry to prepare it for production. Jéradelle described the job as a sequence of stages that demanded physical labor and attention to detail.
“It all starts with buying the clay from the quarry. We then mix it with powder from old, recycled jars. The resulting paste is kneaded by hand and with the foot until it becomes supple enough to shape the plates and other items we wish to make.
According to recent reports, clay is collected from the lowlands around Dota, dried, and crushed before being soaked and made into a paste. Pieces are placed in the shade for 72 hours and then dried for at least three weeks before firing.
“Once the pieces have dried, we polish them with a stone and pieces of recycled mosquito netting to make them smooth and shiny,” Jéradelle said, keeping an eye on the firing process.
For many women in Sè, pottery has also become a way of passing skills to others. Skills transfer is organised through the Akpenin Mahou Association, which trains women in pottery and helped them prepare for vocational certification.
“The association also trains many women in the craft of pottery. At the end of their apprenticeship, they sit the examination for the Vocational Qualification Certificate, said the association’s chairwoman, Félicité Adidého.
Adidého said the training gave women a way to earn an income while contributing to their households.
“This qualification enables them to have their skills officially recognised and to practise their trade or set up their own business,” Adidého added .
The organization also offers a structure for passing on the craft beyond particular households. While Jéradelle learned from her mother, other women learned through both familial and organized training.
Landrie Dagnivo, for example, worked with her mother on the pottery site. She learned the technique from her mother and has been practicing for many years.
“It was my mother who taught me this craft. I’ve been practising it for nearly five years. Here, I make jars, plates, jugs, traditional stoves and other terracotta items. Each piece requires time, patience, and a great deal of precision, but I’m proud to carry on this craft that I’ve inherited from my family,” she said.
The women change their designs to meet shifting customer tastes. However, while the newest designs differ from those created by previous generations, the fundamental processes remain, Adidého explained.
“We’ve developed the techniques we inherited from our grandmothers. In their day, they didn’t make the same designs as the ones we produce today. We now produce plates and other items with a much more refined finish, which is greatly appreciated by our customers. Most of our work is made to order. We sell very little at markets, as our reputation rests above all on the quality of our work,” Adidého said.
She is delighted that the women can now work exclusively on commission for important clients.
A July 2026 Africanews report on Sè’s pottery tradition noted that the women received orders every month from towns across Benin and internationally, indicating that the market for their pottery has expanded well beyond the village.
The work has also created roles for other people in the community. Ferdinand Sossa, a young man from the area, uses his tricycle to transport clay for the women. Tradition, however, dictates that the extraction itself remained the responsibility of women.
“We usually park the tricycles some distance from the extraction site. The women then carry the clay by hand, in basins or baskets, making numerous trips back and forth until the load is full,” Sossa said.
Sè’s pottery heritage has also gained visibility throughout cultural events. The 12th edition of the Festival Adjra, an annual festival of endogenous African sounds, took place in Sè from August 3 to 8, 2026, drawing more attention to the town and its cultural practices.
For women like Jéradelle, pottery represented so much more than a livelihood; it represents a connection to the woman who originally taught her the skills, and to a a tradition she is now helping to pass down to future generations.
