Porcelain Pilgrimage to Jingdezhen, China – Breaking the Mould
In the summer of 2025, I travelled for my second visit to the world’s Porcelain Capital, Jingdezhen — a mere four-hour bullet train west from Shanghai, yet a journey that feels like crossing continents. In the vastness of China, it’s “not far” at all, roughly the distance from Brighton to Scotland.
Recently recognised as a UNESCO Creative City, Jingdezhen is one of the most exhilarating destinations for anyone clay-obsessed. Streets spill over with high-fired vessels, traditional blue-and-white wares, contemporary experiments, tools, materials, and makers at every scale — it’s a living city of ceramics, not a museum.
For three of my five weeks, I was based at Menlo Studios & Gallery, hosted by ceramicists Nick and Yezi. I’d met Nick online to discuss running an international summer school group, most of whom were new to clay. There, I led demonstrations in mould making and casting, showing how to carve and utilise plaster as both structure and decoration in hand-building.
It was twenty-one days of sensory overload:
Visiting small-scale factories hand-making porcelain feathers for extravagant bird sculptures
Watching artisans push the limits of scale
Exploring museums filled with porcelain from every dynasty
In the studio, we played and made, surrounded by mastery and material abundance. It was so visually full that sometimes my eyes felt they had indigestion. I knew I wanted to return before I’d even left.
My experiments with the sublime Jade Porcelain, an extraordinarily refined white clay, are shown in my portfolio under Sculptural objects →. It holds its form even at 1300°C, firing fast in just 24 hours. At home, the same form would slump or warp. This porcelain strength allows my favourite fine sheets of clay to remain perfectly flat.
I’m currently preparing a presentation of the full China experience as it is impossible to capture in one post. If you’re interested in hearing more, or would like to invite me to give a talk about the journey and artist experience, please get in touch →.
