Journal

Sweet-White Porcelain: Tianbai vs. Qingbai
A clear guide to sweet-white porcelain, historical tianbai, qingbai and the questions to ask when choosing modern white ware. Read more...
Hare’s-Fur Glaze: Jian Ware and Modern Tea Bowls
Learn what hare’s-fur glaze is, where Jian ware began, how the streaks form, and how to assess a modern tea bowl honestly. Read more...
Gongfu Tea: A Beginner’s Guide to Essential Teaware
A practical guide to gongfu tea: the essential vessels, how to choose porcelain teaware, and what a beginner can leave out. Read more...
Celadon, Qingbai, and the Colors That Took a Thousand Years
Before color came from a catalog, it came from fire. The story of porcelain's great glazes — celadon, qingbai, and the blue-tinged whites of Jingdezhen — and why a Song dynasty palette looks so strangely modern. Read more...
Blue-and-White Without the Grandma Vibes: A Modern Table Guide
Blue-and-white porcelain has a grandmother problem — and it's entirely fixable. How to set a table with the world's oldest color scheme and make it look like this decade. Read more...
White as Jade, Thin as Paper: The Four Ancient Tests of Great Porcelain
Centuries before ISO standards, Jingdezhen judged porcelain by four sensory tests: white as jade, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, resonant as a chime. Each one is real quality control — and you can run all four at home. Read more...
Jingdezhen Today: A Living City of Potters
Jingdezhen is not only a historic kiln centre. It remains a working ceramic city of studios, specialist workshops, shared kilns, markets and new generations of makers. Read more...
The Two Letters That Explained Jingdezhen to Europe
In 1712 and 1722, the Jesuit François Xavier d'Entrecolles wrote detailed accounts of porcelain production around Jingdezhen. Here is what those letters explained — and what they could not capture. Read more...
Porcelain vs. Ceramic vs. Bone China vs. Stoneware: What Actually Matters
Porcelain, ceramic, bone china, stoneware — the labels get used interchangeably, and they shouldn't be. Here's what each one actually is, and two 10-second tests you can do in any store. Read more...
Why Is Porcelain Called "China"? The City Behind the Word
Ever wondered why fine dishes are called "china"? The answer is a real city — Jingdezhen — that has made porcelain for a thousand years. Its story is hiding in your kitchen cabinet. Read more...
The kilns of Jingdezhen, in eight objects
Eight objects trace how Jingdezhen turned material discipline into a porcelain language recognised around the world. Read more...
How to live with — and care for — handmade porcelain
A calm, practical guide to washing, handling, stacking and repairing the porcelain you choose to use every day. Read more...
Why celadon has enchanted collectors for a thousand years
Iron, atmosphere, depth and crackle: the material language behind celadon’s enduring appeal. Read more...