Weekend Pottery Bazaar

For all ceramics lovers, the weekend creative bazaar organized by The Pottery Workshop (樂天陶社) Jingdezhen should be on their must-do list if they happened to be in town. The organization Pottery Workshop is relatively well-known in Hong Kong, having set up their old workshop facilities at The Fringe Club in Central in 1980s before moving to their new site on Hollywood Road just last year.

Taoxichuan Art Park

Looking at the picture of the Taoxichuan (陶溪川) complex, the latest development project in central Jingdezhen (景德鎮), one might have mistaken it to be some gentrified art and culture space sprouted in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei or even Hong Kong to a lesser extent.

Stranded in the Ceramics Valley

We were hopelessly stranded in a small ceramics shop/café in the Sanbao Valley art village when the rain which started slightly after lunch turned into a full-fledged storm. Luckily, a vacant taxi came to rescue after some point, we jumped right in and headed straight to Sanbao Ceramics Art Institute, a few kilometers down along the meandering road deep into the woods in the Sanbao Valley, for some much needed refuge.

Week in Jingdezhen

I took on an unusual trip to the town of Jingdezhen (景德鎮) late last month, as part of the “study tour” in ceramics making. Well I have been taking pottery classes for a few months already, and the studio I learned from organizes such tour regularly. And the timing was just perfect this time when the tour schedule fell right during the two weeks I was on leave in between work assignments, so I jumped on the chance to travel to an unfamiliar place to do something different.

Picking up a new hobby

“What I like best is the challenge of learning something I didn't know how to do, going beyond my comfort level.” - Ruth Reichl.

Recently I picked up a new hobby of ceramics making. I am always fascinated at the intrinsic relationship between crockery and culinary arts, a concept especially running deep in Asian culture, made famous by the likes of Kitaoji Rosanjin, a influential Japanese foodie/chef/artist.

In Search of an Antique Gallery

Four years ago we stumbled across an interesting antique shop in Kyoto by chance. The storefront looked unassuming from outside, with a few ceramic items on display from the window, but once we stepped inside, it's like we found a land of treasure, with a fine collection of vintage kitchenware and drinkware all in excellent condition and reasonably priced.