How creatives reimagine Jingdezhen’s ceramic legacy

Tattooed vases, sneaker-shaped incense burners, and garments plated in porcelain tile: Jingdezhen’s 1,000-year ceramic tradition is finding a new generation of makers — and a new visual language to go with it. Designers like Shanghai-based YiRan of Yeenjoy Studio, London-based Liwen Liang, and tattoo artist-turned-ceramicist Keon Lee, behind ceramics store The Scene, are merging the historical porcelain culture with contemporary taste. “Although Yeenjoy is a Chinese-born brand, much of our recognition has come from overseas,” YiRan says. “Even though porcelain is my medium, the visual language is often easier to connect with through contemporary and street culture.” The interest has a digital engine. Videos of hand-thrown celadon bowls and cracked-glaze experiments have racked up views on Xiaohongshu (also known as RedNote) pulling younger audiences toward a city that has produced porcelain for centuries. The hashtag “Jingdezhen ceramics” (景德镇陶瓷) has accumulated 1.8 billion impressions on the platform. The city now counts more than 60,000 ceramic workshops, according to local government data. For younger visitors especially, Jingdezhen has become something rarer than a tourist destination — a place where making something by hand still carries cultural weight. What was once the preserve of artisans and collectors is now being recast by a younger generation of designers — and luxury brands have taken notice. Luxury takes note Luxury brands have been drawn to Jingdezhen, a city in northeastern Jiangxi province, southeastern China, as both muse and collaborator. For the Year of the Dragon, Byredo partnered with Shanghai-based studio Kae on a Coming Home homewares series handcrafted there, while Loewe’s Spring 2023 pre-collection campaign drew on Chinese monochrome ceramics from the Ming and Qing dynasties — naming bag colorways after their glazes and working with Jingdezhen ceramicist Deng Xiping on an accompanying educational program at Jingdezhen Ceramic University. More recently, Fendi tapped Jingdezhen ceramicist Zhou Yue, founder of Ciireals, for a Mid-Autumn Festival collaboration. Fire, clay, and philosophy YiRan, the Shanghai-based founder of Yeenjoy Studio, has spent more than a decade building a visual language that moves between traditional Chinese craft and street culture — blue-and-white porcelain reimagined through the lens of sneakers, skateboarding, and fan communities. The studio’s collaborators have ranged from streetwear labels Billionaire Boys Club and Clot to consumer IPs including Minions and Back to the Future. His signature “Yeenjoy Blue” bridges two washed-out worlds: the muted tones of traditional blue-and-white porcelain and the bleached texture of faded denim. YiRan is clear about what matters most in Jingdezhen’s craft. “The relationship between material, fire, and time — as well as the Eastern philosophy of doing your best, then accepting fate,” he says. “Jingdezhen is not only about technique. It is about patience, transformation, and accepting uncertainty. Clay changes under extreme heat, glaze reacts unpredictably, and not every piece survives perfectly. Some crack, warp, or lose color. For me, this is the true spirit of porcelain.” That philosophy has a name. He describes his practice through what he calls the “Underglaze Washed Blue Manifesto.” “Before firing, glaze looks gray and ordinary, but after passing through a 1,300-degree Celsius kiln, it transforms into color. That process feels very close to life itself." The manifesto shapes how he approaches tradition itself. “Tradition should continue growing through contemporary language, while still carrying the wisdom accumulated over centuries,” he says. “In my own work, I combine porcelain traditions with street culture, music, and washed-blue textures. I think this creates a new entry point for people who may never have engaged with porcelain before. But craftsmanship and emotional depth still matter most.” Much of Yeenjoy’s early momentum built in the US and Japan, markets where the distance between street culture and collectible art has always been shorter than in China. Most of the studio’s collaborations over its first decade were international, but that is starting to shift. “We are continuing to build stronger recognition in China and other regions through exhibitions and collaborations," he says. Next year marks Yeenjoy’s 15th anniversary, and YiRan is preparing a museum-scale exhibition to mark the occasion. Keon Lee is approaching the same heritage from a different angle. The founder of Jingdezhen-based The Scene, established in 2023, Lee was a tattoo artist before he was a ceramicist — and it shows. His vessels carry the visual grammar of American ink: bold outlines, playful figures, the kind of imagery more commonly found on skin than glazed porcelain. Where YiRan filters street culture through blue-and-white tradition, Lee does the reverse, pressing tattoo culture into the surface of ceramic form. Wearing history Liwen Liang takes the longest route of the three. Born in Jingdezhen and now based in London, he spent three years developing a technique that fuses porcelain tiles with fabric, producing garments that flex without shattering. Early attempts at 0.1mm produced only fragments. Thicker tiles, small enough to assemble into a textile and strong enough to become clothing, eventually held. “My ceramic textile technique is inspired by the thin-bodied porcelain craftsmanship developed more than 300 years ago,” he tells Jing Daily. “I combine this heritage with textile and fashion to express our culture through a contemporary visual language.” His new collection extends that thinking into accessories such as detachable collars, belts, and ceramic bags. “I want to transform ceramics from something traditionally used only for decoration or daily objects into something that can exist naturally within people’s everyday lives and personal identity," Liang says. “I believe every aspect of Jingdezhen craftsmanship deserves to be preserved,” he adds. “Since the Silk Road hundreds of years ago, Chinese porcelain from Jingdezhen has been transported around the world. The ceramic techniques contain the wisdom, dedication, and craftsmanship of countless generations. These traditional techniques deserve not only preservation, but also continuous innovation and reinterpretation for the future.” The beauty of imperfection Liang’s years in London clarified his aesthetic philosophy. Watching the city’s approach to personal style pushed him toward what he calls “imperfect beauty.” His influences are Giorgio Armani and Thierry Mugler, but London taught him something neither designer could: that personal style matters most. “I believe everyone should find a style that genuinely belongs to them instead of constantly chasing trends,” he says. “I believe imperfect things feel more honest and real, and authenticity is what gives people strength.” That embrace of imperfection, from glazes that transform unpredictably, to clay that cracks and survives, has given Jingdezhen’s aesthetic a credibility that trend cycles cannot manufacture. Across workshops in Shanghai and studios in London, a material that shaped global trade along the Silk Road is evolving with the new generations of tastemakers.

How creatives reimagine Jingdezhen’s ceramic legacy

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How creatives reimagine Jingdezhen’s ceramic legacy

How Bottega Veneta weaved China’s forever it bag