Bian

Bian is a studio built in 2015 which is currently being run by three young ceramists in Jingdezhen. ‘Bian’ in Chinese refers to the lines of a shape , named so as the ceramists believe that the lines of a shape can reflect the main character of a craft to a great extent where their excitement for crafts stems along way.

We still remember how amazed we were by Bian’s crafts when we were wandering around at weekend market in Jingdezhen. With an invitation, we just followed those two male ceramists and headed over to their studio.The studio is sorted neatly with a large window getting fresh air in as much as possible. At the right side, the space was infused with multiple shelves where unfinished pieces were being dried or waiting for a test. While at the left side, we just felt pretty cosy at the old tables , shelves or cupboards where the finished crafts are display in good order and attempted us to touch. The female ceramist turned to us with a warm heart from her ‘secret window garden’ that helped to bring them green when they were sick for the nature.

 Those three ceramists of Bian were extremely excited to share with us lots of their moments in the nature which their inspirations of the works mainly stem from, like drinking tea by the river, barbecuing in the bamboo forest, having picnic in the filed and so on. They are trying to slow down their life space and transform the shapes of the natural life into teaware, dinnerware, or table accessories ,making each piece handcrafted pleasingly unique.

In quest of lines of a craft, Bian is trying to bring everything they value in life together. They craft the clay with a variety of shapes imitating the flowers, fruit or objects from nature which truly represent how the life appears different in four seasons. When it comes to silvered crafts, instead of applying the silver glaze in traditionally developed way, Bian is embarking on a journey of breaking rules with a new silvering technique created on their own. They found the process tough but challenging at the same time which are always able to fill them up and give them fuel to go on ahead. That is why their designs or ideas are copied widely but their works of clay have never been surpassed.

In pursuit of heightening the sense to the table of every day life, Bian cares about not only esthetics which are apparently captured from the look of their crafts, but also the function and practicality. Therefor, it pushes them return to the same piece over and over to look for the right balance between the two points. Bian often reminds themselves that they are not machines on a production line , and they just need to set calm away from the noise and anxiety to focus on their fingertips and hands only. We are truly confident to see more and more genius crafts coming out of this positive vibe in future.

 Check Here to see Bian's works in the shop.