Dear reader,
The rest of this week was a ceramic lover's dream, and I think the rest of this week has been my favorite part of the trip so far!
On Wednesday we went to Yingge, a town famously known for its ceramics, and visited the ceramics museum and tai-hwa pottery factory. We also went to dot design, where we saw how they used reused materials to make many design pieces.
In the museum, it was interesting to see all the different uses of pottery from the past and the examples of its potential uses for the future. My favorite pieces were the traditional ceramic brick windows and their patterning, the porcelain wall socket covers, and the tea sets. I also learned about the effects of reduction vs oxidation firing on different clay bodies and how it can change their color properties. For example, porcelain becomes whiter and brighter in an oxidation firing whereas the reduction firing brings out a more speckled look.
At the Tai-hwa pottery factory, we got to take a tour and paint our pottery. They showed us around the gallery, and we got to see how they put real gold on their pieces by using liquid gold glaze. While the gallery was cool and the painting was fun, my favorite part was getting to meet one of the self-taught artists there who was carving a ceramic piece and learning about the techniques that he used to make the different vases. Talking to him was probably one of the most insightful parts of visiting the factory!
On Thursday, we worked at SCU to finish our design sprint with the SCU students. We made a trash holder that turns into a flower the more trash you add to it. When we were given critique/feedback at the end of the sprint, Meichun talked about turning the mundane into something extraordinary. I feel like this is an interesting point. I think there’s something magical about elevating a common experience into something more engaging or fun. This is definitely an idea I want to explore in more detail for future projects. I wonder what other items can be elevated like this. It also brings the question of what things should be elevated like this and if there is a need for such elevation. For example, we could use this principle to elevate certain products and encourage people to take part in certain behaviors that are productive to society or good for the environment. Something that makes sorting recycling fun could be helpful for kids who are learning to recycle.
Friday was our free day, and I decided to go back to Yingge on a solo trip. I wanted to see more of Old Street since we didn’t get to see it on Wednesday, and I also wanted to search for a tea set that was handmade in Taiwan. Going solo was a little challenging but well worth it.
Here are all the steps you’d have to take to go on the same adventure:
Take the red line to Taipei main station
Get lost in Taipei's main station looking for the local train and try to buy a ticket for the HSRT.
Talk to two information desks and find out that you should take a local train to Yingge and can just go through the gates using your easy card instead of buying a ticket.
Hop on and off the train unsure if it’s really the right one and meet a local girl who reaffirms you’re on the right train and two gives you recommendations of where to go in Tainan.
Get off the train at Yingge and walk 14 minutes to Old Street
Wander in and out of stores and through a shopping mall or two, talk to clerks through Google Translate, and learn from local potters about their works.
Walk into a very expensive pottery store and buy absolutely nothing but learn that glazed ware is good for oolong tea, while mineral ware is good for all other tea because the glazed one allows the scents to come through during the brewing process instead of soaking it up like the mineral ware.
Stop to find a bathroom, meet a girl from Seattle who turns out to be the sister of someone you know, and get boba with her around Yingge before parting ways.
Stop for delicious beef noodle soup, try to buy the ceramic plate that your dessert came on and leave empty-handed but fully satisfied with your lunch.
Rush around through stores still on a mission to find the perfect tea set within your budget. Find one in the last store you go into, buy it, and walk slowly back to the train station to return to the hotel with a feeling of exhaustion but smiling success and satisfaction for what you saw, learned, and experienced.
Even though I spent most of my Friday in one place it was definitely worth it. It gave me more confidence in my abilities to be independent and made me realize how helpful technology is, but also how reliant I am on it to find my way. While the rest of this week was packed with exciting ceramic things and design challenges, I think the things that made it well worth it were the people I met along the way and the conversations that I had with them. Here are some of my other favorite pictures from this week.
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