W230xD230xH270mm, China
This is an octagon tea cosy, it was used as an insulator for the ceramic and metal teapot which gets cold easily. The small opening is for the spout of the teapot while the top two is for the lock of the lid which unfortunately is missing.
Here is another tea cozy made with bamboo.
W360xH360mm, Hong Kong
For the joint venture of Soil X Mountain Folkcraft – Something Old Something New, artist Denise Chan has created a padded bag using traditional hand woven fabric from her collection.
The padded bag is perfect for carrying ipad or netbooks.
Denise is from Paiwan 台湾排灣族, an aboriginal tribe of Taiwan. Her interest on handwoven fabrics starts from her collection on minority costume. She is not only a collector by has also become a craft designer.
DIA75xH40mm, China
This is a small pottery wine cup, its small size is suitable for drinking games where one would bottoms up quite frequently.
Here is a traditional Chinese drinking game;
The Slap 7 Game
A group of drinkers in sitting in a circle, each counting a number from 1 to 99, the first person will say 1 and the second 2 and so on. On the number that contain the number 7 or the multiple of 7 (e.g. 7, 14, 17, 21, etc), the person saying it till has to slap someone else’s head. The person who got it wrong will have to drink up. Sound simple, wait till you have a few cups of Chinese wine.
Here are a couple more items on drinks; Porcelain Wine Flask, Money God , The Wine God,
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
DIA100xH40mm, China
This miniature silver kettle was selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
This is the base of a small pottery mortar which would have been used for grinding Chinese herbal medicine, now it can be used for grinding marination rubs, for making pesto, for grinding sesome. Check out our other mortars; mortar, medicine grinder.
DIA75 x H50mm, China
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
These pair of cups has a brown glazing (known as the soy sauce glaze) and internally a hand painted blue and white porcelain goldfish pattern. The goldfish pattern is a traditional Chinese pottery decoration; the word goldfish (金魚) and the word gold & jade (金玉) are heterographs (same pronunciation, but different meaning and spelling), a bowl full of golden fish is hence a house of wealth.
And here is the ultimate goldfish in a bowl by Riusuke Fukahori
DIA50xH70mm, China
This is small vase is a stationary, a water drip for diluting the ink. The 2 other water drips featured in our previous posts ,which both has a mouth piece, those are known as “shui zhu”, one like this is known as a “shui cheng”. Water drip is one of the essential stationary besides the fundamental 4; paper, brush, ink and inkstone. Its small size and its basic utilitarian function enable the craftsman to be more expressive on the material, form and decorations. The water drip is an articulated item for the scholar, an item kept at the desk which would reflect the owner’s passion. I tried hard to think of an equivalent object for today’s scholar and failed, at best an old fountain pen and at worst a desktop pattern. Is it because nowadays we owned too many objects? Or has the digital life leave us little individuality?
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
DIA330mm, China
For those of us who grew up going to Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong, eating out of the black / red shiny bento boxes is a norm, so much that it becomes a symbol in our mind. But anyone ever wonder why there are so many black plastic containers? They are actually a replica of the lacquer ware that would have been traditionally used. Those are probably the closest some of us get to know of lacquer ware.
The making of lacquer ware is a laborious task of collecting urushiol from the lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum) and applying thin layers of lacquer over a form (in this case, wood), let dry, polish and apply again and again. Here is a clip of Japanese lacquer tray making;
You will be surprised that the price of this handmade lacquer tray is not any more expensive than a good quality plastic one, and if you handle it with care (avoid soaking in water and the use of abrasive cleaner) it will last just as long. Make this your first lacquer ware!
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
DIA100mm, China
This is four seasons floral plate is a folk’s version of the famille rose decoration. The normal examples of famille rose you see in museum and exhibitions are very delicate and refine works of art, they can be seen as an extension of Chinese painting, the decoration of this plate uses the same technique of glazing but with a bolder pattern, it is an everyday plate for the commoners. Famille rose was invented and became popular in the Qing dynasty, basing on the technique acquired from famille verte and the colour material of the color enamel from the West, a decoration of a softer and different shades is achieved. The work is made from white clay, on the biscuit a colour outline is painted, then glass whiteness (a white colour use for enamel work) is applied within the outline. Colours are then painted over the glass whiteness glazing, giving a softer colour than the famille verte decoration.
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
DIA50xH100mm, China
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
In the old days this flask would have been used in the kitchen for keeping oil or soy sauce for cooking. Now with the hairy crab (Chinese mitten crabs) season coming up, it would be ideal for serving Hua Diao wine. Being pottery, you can submerge the flask into hot water to heat up the wine. Now talk about pottery and hairy crab, I cant help to show a piece of my work.
W120xD80xH40mm, Hong Kong (not for sale)
DIA130xH50mm, China
Comparing to the wooden box shown in the previous box, though both of the boxes are round, this is a more economical and sustainable way of achieving around wooden container. Unlike the previous post where the box is lathes out from a solid piece of wood, this box smartly uses the idea of wooden bending and of course a circular cylinder is always the strongest form (apart from a sphere).
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
Mountain Folkcraft 