A girl who doesn't make dishes, makes dishes for coffee, loves the charm of art and crafts

We met a little girl at the market in Jingdezhen. She made a really good cup. After a lot of praise, I said, we are a famous coffee utensils company in China. Can we invite you to order a batch of coffee cups?

She said, no.

Um... It's okay, it's not as awkward as you think, at least we're businessmen. Have the ability to resist setbacks.

She is a post-90s, Aquarius, neat, delicate, short-haired. Like several ceramists I have seen before, she came here because she likes ceramics. She has a professional background in ceramics and has a small shop in Jingdezhen. She likes art and craftsmanship.

She said that she thinks that the first consideration of commercial products is its sales volume, etc., she does not exclude business, but the starting point and core of doing things are different, and her own starting point is to like. She wants to spend more time on her own design, hoping that she can decide what she is working on and be more free. Since I come here, I only want to do what I like, and I don't want to do what I don't like for profit. So, she doesn't take customization.

Well, yes, what we are looking for is a partner with this temperament. Only when the three values are consistent can we talk about it.

I hastened to explain our Taimo's concept of coffee profession and design aesthetics, trying to prove that our starting point is not just money, we are not local bosses.

So the little girl promised to make coffee cups for Tamo.

"but the cups you make are all single cups. Can you help us design and make a plate together?" I asked.

She said, no.

Um... I'm used to it.

She always insists on making small, individual things. I don't like making dishes, and I don't like to match dishes for cups. "when I was in college, my teacher told me to do something big and a series of things to have momentum. But I still decide to do whatever I like. Being myself is the most important thing. "

So the cooperation ran aground.

Back in Shanghai, the first wave of products and promotions of the artist series were all out. I sent these to her Wechat, and after a while, she replied with a message that made me jump with delight: "well, your article is very good." our handicrafts also need the promotion and interpretation of platforms like you! I also understand your theme, and I hope to cooperate further! "

Then she said, I can just make you a matching plate. ^ _ ^

At this point, I still have a little concern about whether the "don't make a dish" little girl who refused step by step at the beginning will really cooperate with us attentively. But she promised us that at the same time, without talking about the price, she immediately began to design and produce. When the sample of her plate came out, we were all stunned.

This is not a random dish, but a dish with its own style, character, perfect match with the cup, and really easy to use. She handwritten a note with the sample, a stroke, a long paragraph of text about her design concept, seriously and meticulously moved us.

According to the exact time agreed, this batch of cups and saucers arrived. She made each one herself.

After the cup is fired, it presents the same image as ink landscape painting, so it is named light shadow. This is because the mud of this cup is mixed with stone powder from Sanbao Village, Jingdezhen. These natural ingredients show special effects, but also have great variability, so they further test the production technology, different seasons and climate, there will be different changes. This is why these cups and saucers are of different shades and colors, and each set is unique.

Pottery is often difficult to achieve light and smooth, this set of cups and saucers is a challenge to handmade pottery, the line is tall and straight, the cup wall is light and thin, only dexterous and attentive hands can do.

I have a lot of excellent handmade coffee cups in my hand, especially this one I have used recently. One of the important reasons is that there is a very fine curve on the lower edge of the handle, which is just right to reach the place where the middle finger is held, which is very comfortable. I asked a ceramic manufacturer, he said that the handle here is relatively soft, can not control so fine, may just collapse a little bit, I am skeptical.

Later, when I asked her, I knew that she would stare at the handle from wet to dry, repeatedly adjusting the shape more than three times.

She was the only one who wrote a hundred signature cards, each with different words. These words express her attitude towards life and her love for what she makes. Moreover, it is still written one stroke at a time.

Finally, I asked her an old question, what do you think these things have to do with people's lives?

"excellent designs and handmade objects can make people live a delicate life and love their own life. Home is the ownership of the soul and should be taken very seriously." That's what she said.

On the way to starting a business, I always hope to meet more persistent people. Their persistence may seem a little strange at first-no customization, no dishes, no money, no developed cities. But when you think about it, maybe they're not the ones to blame. We seem to have been accustomed to making money as a yardstick, accustomed to the delicate feelings of laziness, accustomed to obedience to interests and power, if once we look at it, we are the strange people who live.

So every time you work with someone who is simple and clean, it feels like a trip to the pure starry sky in New Zealand, the blue sky and snow-capped mountains in the Himalayas, the Uyuni Salt Lake in Bolivia, or the spotless Kyoto path during the red leaf season.

Her name is Xin Ying, a serious Potter.

Source: coffee slow life