FEATS OF CLAY
For one designer, fine porcelain dinnerware elevates meals into an aesthetic experience, and still keeps things simple
To satisfy a gourmet, not only the food itself but also serving dishes must offer some visual enjoyment. Industrial designer Yang Mingjie delivers with his latest designs in a series of porcelain dinnerware at his private design museum in Shanghai. His goal: combine his understanding of Chinese philosophy with these daily items on people’s dinner tables.
The series consists of four sets focusing on various subjects, such as marriage, a father’s love and a lucky year. The subject shows itself when diners put liquid into different plates which have uneven patterns inside. Liquid flowing into the plates produces a vision: a blooming peony, a moon that changes its shape or mountains under the brushes of a ink painter.
“Having food is more than filling one’s belly. For hundreds of years, Chinese have been in pursuit of spiritual enjoyment by presenting fine food with delicate dinnerware,” says Yang.
Yang holds a show this month to explore the changes of tableware in Chinese history at the Yang Design Museum in Shanghai, a private museum he founded in 2013 to house his collection of various industrial designs from around the world. The show, together with the sets of dinnerware, is a cooperation with Hennessy’s project Hennessy and Meals: the Rediscovery of the Taste of Chinese Cuisine.
Inspiration
The major inspiration for these designs comes from the Chinese philosophy that one should do things moderately. For example, it’s said that when having meals, one should stop eating before feeling full. With this idea, he designs the bowls with a curved rim. The lowest edge determines the real capacity. The shape combines that of the lotus-shaped bowls from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and bamboo hatshaped bowls from the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
He jokes that the sets are designed for people who want to lose weight. If one has to eat fully with the bowl, he has to add rice many times.
The designer also employs the idea of leaving enough room for imagination promoted by Chinese aesthetics in traditional ink painting into his design.
“Society is fickle and full of desires. People always want more. That’s not the lifestyle Chinese used to have. A better one is doing things in moderation and leaving enough room for your body and your spirit,” he explains in his private office.
Collection
The museum he founded in 2013 houses thousands of industrial-design products he collected from around the world to show a brief design history in the West. There is also a special showroom to display Yang’s own designs that won him dozens of prizes, including Germany’s Red Dot, America’s IDEA and Japan’s G-mark.
Yang says his approach to life is simple, but that doesn’ t mean he does not care about things he uses in daily life. As a designer, he wants things to be simple as well as beautiful.
Yang has designed hundreds of products, including a smart bike, bags, chairs, sofas, lights, screens and tea sets. They all look simple yet visually pleasing.
This is the first time for Yang had done dinnerware. He and his team spent half a year on the project: The challenging part was how to produce those plates with uneven sides in large quantities. The uneven inside of different patterns makes the porcelain look like flowing pictures when liquid is put in.
“The lifestyle I promote is from an aesthetic or spiritual side. Chinese consumers living in big cities have turned from their previous pursuit of blind consumption to a pursuit of showing their own personalities,” says Yang.
It’s the spiritual enjoyment obtained from a product that matters most, he adds.