DIA70mm, China
This silver bracelet has a very simplistic design, a band of silver held at the end by a small opening and a bolt.
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
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.
DIA20xH40mm, Thailand
This miniature silver kettle was selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
Since we have the kettle on, I will share with you a Thai Iced Tea (Cha Yen) recipe.
INGREDIENTS
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.
DIA75xH165mm, China
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
This is a traditional Chinese white glaze candle stand, this can be seen by the small hole on center of the top dish. The traditional candle has a bamboo stick attached to the bottom, the candle would be secured by inserting it into the small hole. Candle stands have been around since the 3 Kingdoms period (210AD) until the Tang dynasty they have been more descriptive and elaborated capturing the shape an animal or a plant, etc. From the Sung dynasty, the form became more utilitarian and the 2 level form are the most common.
Talking about candles, I would like to share with you the candles hand made and designed by my friend Maha Alusi in Berlin. And of course her view on “Passing Moments”.
DIA 140xH65mm, Hong Kong
This bowl is an example of the traditional mass production of craft which is still 100% handmade. Notice the ring at the bottom of the bowl? That it is unglazed? It is not part of the pattern of the bowl but a feature of the production of the bowl itself – stack firing.
If you turn a bowl over, you will notice that the bottom of the plinth is a bit rougher, that it hasn’t got any glazing. This is because if the glaze is there, under the heat of the kiln it would melt and cause the work to stick to the kiln board, that’s why the potter would carefully clean off any glaze. Normally when firing each item would be placed on a kiln board and at some distance apart from other works. In the Qin dynasty (220BC), demand for pottery is high, stack firing becomes popular in the common kiln. The bowls would be stacked on top of each other (like how the bowls are arranged in your kitchen cabinets), about 10 pieces tall. To prevent the glazing on the bowl sticking together the glazing on the inside of the bowl (where the plinth of the upper bowl is touching) is removed, hence the unglazed ring. This would yield a lot more work in a single firing – tradition mass production.
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
DIA50 x H45mm, China
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
This Chinese porcelain tea ware is decorated with plum blossom, however, the white on the brown glaze just reminded me of Bambi. Its not surprising that Chinese name for the Sika deer is plum blossom deer.
W300xL300mm, Korea
For the Something Old Something New Exhibition with Soil, we have the Korean artist Seung Yun Yoo and her fabric creation, hand printed dyed with natural ingredient.
Seung lives in Seoul, Korea. She makes home textile goods inspired by her plain but beautiful surroundings. After studying fashion design at Esmod Seoul and Illinois of Art in Chicago, She worked for several clothing companies in New York and Seoul. Recently she quited her day job and started to make her own fabric creations. All products of Seung were printed and made individually by hand with care. She hopes to make something simple, different and sincere which can fit into every home.
To learn more about Seung visit her blog @ http://knifeinthewaterblog.blogspot.com
DIA 40mm, China
This is one of the gift for the Chinese baby’s shower (normally on the 100th day of its birth), a silver bracelet with the pendent of Budai and a peanut. You must be wondering why these 2 items would be selected for a child as an ornament. Budai, the laughing buddha, is an incarnation of Maitreya, however, this image of Maitreya is only found in China but not in India. It is believed that the image of the laughing monk with a belly and a bag originated from a monk in the Five Dynasties, an incarnation of Maitreya and known for his joyfulness, forgiveness and kindness, for this he is always depicted to be followed with a group of children. For a child to be wearing Budai would be giving her the blessing and a hope that his character would rub in a little. As for the peanut, it is known as the fruit of longevity, bringing health and fertility. In old rural China when medical and hygiene was poor, this blessing to the child is a wish of parents for some extra help for his well being.
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
Mountain Folkcraft 