Porcelain Across Borders ¦ A Story from Jingdezhen Ep.2

You either never come to Jingdezhen or you'd keep coming back. Its charm can't be fully discovered in a single visit. In Jingdezhen, porcelain is a language we all speak. It also sparks connections across cultures and distances. The first collaboration that we had was in Hong Kong at the Cultural Centre. And then after that we did a couple of other trips and exhibitions and workshops for different universities. We also went to the UK to promote the blue and white porcelain, right? We did a lot of workshops in the world. Yes, we did, yeah. So how is your business? My business is still going all right. I mean, this year we've reached about our 10th year anniversary. And when we first started it, there's only about seven to eight studios. And right now there's probably over 40. 40? 40 ceramic studios in Hong Kong in such a concrete jungle, such a pack. Why is ceramic art attracting a new generation of enthusiasts? To find the answer, we must take a closer look at Jingdezhen. Home to just over 1.6 million people, this city lives and breathes ceramics. Around one in every 10 residents works in the industry. Here, centuries-old craftsmanship meets bold creativity, drawing ceramic enthusiasts from across China and around the world into a vibrant community like none other. At its peak, it included more than 5,000 foreigners. When I arrived here, I realized that there are a lot of foreign people who came here already. This ceramic porcelain culture really includes routine life in Jingdezhen. I like to combine them with my cultures also. In Europe, art students rarely get a chance to set up independent workshops. Yet, young creators here in Jingdezhen can team up to run studios, their own studios. That's why I made up my mind to stay here. It's not like anything else in the world. I feel so excited. I feel so privileged to have seen that beautiful technique and to be in the most perfect place on the planet to learn these things is a high point of my life. I'm very excited. Porcelain needs makers and the people who bring it to the world. My husband is one of them. We met at the 2014 Canton Fair. After years working in the ceramic trade, he believes Jingdezhen porcelain stands apart from anything made elsewhere. Fascinated by the human touch behind Jingdezhen porcelain, he often sets out to explore an even older story, the centuries-long link between the city and his homeland, Tuqie. This site started to make those bluish-white porcelains in the late 11th century. They take some orders from the officials for making porcelains to the court. And during the late Ming, that is about the 16th century, when the Ottoman Empire was so powerful, they actually played an important role to bring a lot of Jingdezhen wares to the West. So people also living around this area. You see some workshops and also residential houses. People from different cities coming here. They are living here. Yeah, to make a live here on porcelain. On porcelain. On porcelain industry. And over there, you see the brown and white, Yuan brown and white, Meiping. And that's from the 14th century. Can be shipped to Western Asia. This dish, shards of dish. The decoration, we call it a typical Krak porcelain. And that's a Portuguese customized product. Small windows, divided windows on the edge of the dish. So all these show us that the Loma Chiao Qiong site was one of the most prosperous production centers of export wares.